The rumors of a rift between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were a major talking point in the Indian cricket fraternity when Ravi Shastri was associated with the team as head coach.
Back then, Shastri had time and again dismissed the speculations and now former India fielding coach R Sridhar’s book titled 'Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team' has revealed a different side of the rift story.
In his book, Sridhar narrated how Shastri called Kohli and Rohit to his room during the 2019 West Indies tour.
"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 'Coaching Beyond'.
"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 non-nonsense manner. 'I want you to put all this behind and get together for us to move forward'".
After Shastri’s intervention, Kohli and Rohit set the reset button and their rapport improved significantly.
"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 in doing so. That he felt encouraged to call the white-ball captain and his deputy to clearly state his mind is indicative of the kind of atmosphere we had facilitated. That Virat and Rohit saw reason in Ravi's stance and immediately got down to business was the mutilate tribute to our culture 'one for all, all for one, but team above all'," stated Sridhar.
