The fanwars between the die-hard followers of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma seemed to have seeped into the Indian dressing room as well with former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar revealing the instance when former head coach Ravi Shastri had to step in and call up a meeting with the two superstars of world cricket.
Post India’s knock out in the 2019 World Cup semi-final vs New Zealand, there were strong reports about a row between the then captain, Kohli, and his deputy, Rohit.
Rohit and Kohli have been prominent names in world cricket for over a decade, and have together given several memorable moments to the fans. However, in a team sport, arguments are bound to happen between the players.
The furor among the fans was sparked when one of them unfollowed the other and his spouse.
“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, and that someone had unfollowed another on social media—stuff that could be unsettling if you allowed it to fester,” Sridhar wrote in his book ‘Coaching Beyond’.
The Rohit-Kohli rivalry on social media has sometimes gotten really ugly
India toured US to play 2 T20Is vs West Indies. There, R Sridhar recalled, the then head coach Ravi Shastri got both the batters in the same room and told them to get on the same page for the benefit of the team.
““We landed in the United States (US) some 10 days after the World Cup for a T20 series against the West Indies in Lauderhill. One of the first things Ravi [Shastri, the then head coach] did on his 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 you and get together for us to move forward.” Sridhar further wrote.
