IND vs WI | Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not gelling with each other are speculations, says Sunil Gavaskar

02/07/2022

Sunil Gavaskar slammed the media reports regarding the rift between Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma, saying these are just speculations and there is nothing true about it. Gavaskar also added that such things are reported time and again but players don’t bother about it as they know the truth.

India made a good start to the ODI series against West Indies as they won the opening fixture of the series by six wickets. India white-ball captain Rohit Sharma started his ODI captaincy stint with a 51-ball 60 in the series opener. However, former Indian captain Virat Kohli failed to dominate the opposition bowlers, and walked back to the pavilion after scoring eight runs.

Kohli had earlier relinquished his T20I captaincy after the World Cup last year, and later he was sacked from the ODI leadership role as the BCCI preferred a single skipper in white-ball format. After India lost the Test series against South Africa by 2-1, Kohli also stepped down as captain of the national side in red-ball cricket. Rohit replaced Kohli as captain in the white-ball cricket, and the Indian opener is likely to succeed the 33-year-old as Test captain.

After Kohli was removed from the ODI captaincy, several media reports suggested that there is a rift between Rohit and the former. However Kohli and Rohit were seen gelling together very well in the first ODI against West Indies, and during the match, the former Indian captain helped the current white-ball skipper to get a review right amidst uncertainity. Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar has called the media reports mentioning the rift between Kohli and Rohit as just speculations.

“Why wouldn't they be getting along? They are playing for India. All these talks that you generally hear about two players not gelling and etc. are all speculations. According to reliable sources or allegedly or reportedly. Nobody actually tells you and this has been happening for a years. And these guys don't even bother about it. You wouldn't even bother about these kind of speculations because you yourself know what the truth is. And so there is nothing,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports,

Gavaskar also backed the former India captain to return to scoring ways.

“There are often speculations that the captain who is now a player in the team will not want the new captain to succeed. This is nonsense. Because if he doesn't score runs or a bowler doesn't pick wickets then he is going to be out of the team. He has already lost the captaincy or opted out of captaincy, now you don't contribute with the bat or ball then you are going to be out of the team. So all these talks are mere speculations from people who have nothing better to do and are trying and creating stories,” he stated.

“So don't you worry. Today Kohli didn't get runs but he will get runs whether he is playing under Rohit Sharma or any other captain,” he added.