There was a time when there were reports about Indian cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma having a dressing room rift. Ever since Rohit took command of the team after Kohli, the discussion about this became more intense, but never any kind of statement indicating the same came out from these two players.
But now former fielding coach R Sridhar has revealed the relationship between the two in his book ‘Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team’. Sridhar’s book reveals that the news of the tussle between the two was not limited to mere rumors. But it was resolved in time.
“There was a Rohit camp and a Virat camp,” Sridhar says, “and head coach Ravi Shastri had to personally intervene to resolve the issue.”
“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 semifinal. We were informed that there was a Rohit camp and a Virat camp, that someone had unfollowed another on social media – stuff that could be unsettling if you allowed it to fester.” Sridhar wrote in his book.
Ravi’s action was swift, simple, and decisive: R Sridhar
He also wrote in his book that during the West Indies tour, the then head coach Ravi Shastri had to intervene between them and called both of them to his room to sort things. He said, after that, things started to get better with time.
“We landed in the United States (US) some 10 days after the World Cup for a T20 series against West Indies in Lauderhill. One of the first things Ravi did on arrival was to call Virat and Rohit to his room and impress upon them that for Indian cricket to be healthy, they needed to be on the same page. ‘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 and get together for us to move forward,” he added.
“You could see that things started to get better after that. Ravi’s action was swift, simple, and decisive. It was just getting both the guys together, sitting them down, and making them talk. Ravi didn’t waste any time doing so,” Sridhar explained.
