India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed all the unreliable sources who have been trending rumors of a rift between India captain Rohit Sharma and former captain Virat Kohli and cited the DRS review act in the first ODI between India and West Indies as an example of how cordial their relationship has been.
Rohit Sharma was leading the Indian team in an ODI for the first time as full-time captain against West Indies on February 6 in Ahmedabad and Virat Kohli was seen giving his inputs numerous times during the match.
One such instance saw Kohli convincing Rohit to go for a DRS review after the leg-break from Yuzvendra Chahal took the outside edge of Shamarh Brooks' bat and Rishabh Pant caught the ball but was unsure of the bat had hit the pad or the ball.
Gavaskar cited this instance as an example of the great camaraderie the two batting greats share in the Indian team and hailed the two players for remaining unfazed amid the outside noise, opining that it is probably because they know what the truth is.
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“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,” he told Star Sports.
Gavaskar, who was the first batter to score 10,000 Test runs, backed Kohli to return to form, despite making just 8 runs in the first ODI against West Indies. He also slammed reports which have mentioned that he was unwilling to participate in the series as Rohit is the new captain.
“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. 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 said.
(Star Sports inputs)
