India will play their first T20I against West Indies today.
Atul Wassan, the former India cricketer, slammed the timing of India's white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma's remark on Virat Kohli during the press conference in Kolkata ahead of the T20I match against West Indies.
Wassan said Rohit's " media should keep quiet" replied to a journalist who asked about former captain Virat Kohli's poor form should have come earlier. Wassan admitted to ANI that the rumors of a rift between Rohit and Kohli were "unfounded," but believed Rohit should have addressed the issue much sooner.
“I think this should have come sooner because the rumors emanating from the Indian dressing room and camp that there is a rift between Rohit and Virat which is unfounded and I think every player has got some issues and it doesn't mean that they try to perform and under-perform when somebody else is the captain. I think this was historically done when Bishan Singh Bedi versus Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev versus Sunil Gavaskar used to happen. These guys are professionals these days,” he said.
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The 53-year-old also said that, while the talk over Kohli's form was understandable, he supported Rohit's remark.
“They play with each other, against each other and they play around. IPL is a perfect example. So, I think they travel so many months of the year together. So, I think they live like families. So, some kind of proximity breeds contempt that is pretty true. Something might happen but that should not be blown out of proportion that it should hamper the team's morale Rohit has done the right thing by coming out in the open and I agree that there is too much chatter about Virat and it is natural,” he said.
Kohli has not scored a three-figure score in international cricket since November 2019, and his tally of just 26 runs in three innings in the recent ODI series against the West Indies was a new low for the batter in a decade, his second-lowest in a bilateral ODI series of at least three games.
Wassan also encouraged Kohli to recover from his slump, same to how Kapil Dev recovered from his vision problems and Sachin Tendulkar recovered from his tennis elbow injuries.
"You know the kind of brilliant player he has been and the kind of shots he has invented. Especially the one from outside the off-stump into the mid-wicket area for the fast bowlers that can happen when you are in the prime of your youth between 28 to 30. When I was talking to Kapil Dev eyesight suddenly drops and suddenly you find the shots you are missing. If he is a great player like Tendulkar like when he had a tennis elbow then he corrected himself and he started the bottom hand play. So, he changed his technique to survive another few years and I am sure Virat will do that too."
(ANI inputs)