Former India coach Ravi Shastri has opined on what he’ll do if in a situation where two people who don’t like each other do not shake hands and what he’ll tell them. This was an indirect opinion on the ongoing Virat Kohli-Sourav Ganguly saga, as the two former captains are at loggerheads.
This was evident when where the former RCB skipper refused to shake hands with the Delhi Capitals (DC) director of cricket after the RCB vs DC IPL 2023 match in Bengaluru. The two cricketers, who have both captained the Indian side with distinction, were captured in a viral video on social media sites appearing to ignore one another and not shaking hands.
Ganguly was then seen ignoring Virat Kohli while walking past the RCB dugout while acknowledging other Bangalore players.
Reportedly the tiff between the two star cricketers began when Kohli was dropped as the ODI captain after he had stepped down as the T20I captain in 2021. Rohit Sharma was given the command of the team in both formats and shortly became the all-format captain when Kohli resigned as Test captain in January 2022.
In a press conference before the 2022 tour of South Africa, the Delhi-born batter denied accusations that he and then-chief selector Chetan Sharma had asked Kohli not to resign as T20I captain. Ganguly was quoted as having said that.
Now Ravi Shastri gave his thoughts on the matter and responded to the question of whether he would wish to ease the tension under the current conditions.
While in a conversation on ESPNCricinfo, the anchor asked Shastri how he would deal with the situation between two people who won't shake hands without naming Kohli and Ganguly.
Shastri said: “Depends on what my relationship is. If I don't want to talk, I'll just go past. But at the end of it, when you go and sit down, you feel that there's always some room to grow up, no matter how old you are.”
After the match against DC, Virat Kohli unfollowed Sourav Ganguly on the popular social media network Instagram, and the former BCCI president did the same.
