Ideological differences between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have made headlines in Indian media for a long time. Once, the speculation about the rift between the two was a hot topic in the country and different sources used to give fresh angles and dimension to Rohit vs Virat-saga.
While there was never a single comment from either side on the issue, the former India fielding coach, R Sridhar has now made some interesting revelations in the matter. In his book ‘Coaching Beyond’ R Sridhar revealed that the tension between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli was quite visible after the 2019 World Cup, and how former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri intervened at the right time to sort out the differences.
“After the 2019 World Cup, there was a lot of bad press about what allegedly happened in the dressing room during our campaign and following our loss to New Zealand in the semi-final. We were informed that there was a Rohit camp and a Virat camp, that someone had unfollowed another social media – stuff that could be unsettling if you allowed it to faster,” revealed R Sridhar.
He further claimed that as the team landed in the United States some days after the World Cup for a T20I series against West Indies in Lauderhill, one of the first things which Ravi Shatri (the then-India coach) did was to sit with both the senior cricketers.
“Ravi invited Rohit and Virat Kohli in a room and asked them to leave things behind and move forward together for the welfare of Indian cricket. ‘Whatever happened on social media, that’s all fine, but you two are the most senior cricketers so this must stop,’ Ravi said in his typical no-nonsense manner. ‘I want you to put all this behind you and get together for us to move forward,” mentioned R Sridhar.
The former fielding coach also stated that how he was highly impressed with Ravi Shastri’s style and his nature of discussing things straightforwardly. Meanwhile, Rohit and Virat will be seen together during Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting on February 9 in Nagpur. Both the senior batters are in great form and must be looking forward to scripting a couple of records during the four-match Test series.