Former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria said that the Indian cricket team dressing room has been divided into two groups as KL Rahul and Virat Kohli were seen sitting apart.
He also claimed that Kohli, who recently stepped down as India's Test captain and is now primarily a batter, was not in the same mood as he was when he was captain.
His comments came after Team India lost the first ODI by 31 runs against South Africa in Paarl on January 19. However, Kohli played a crucial knock of 51 runs in the first ODI against South Africa but could not convert it into a bigger score.
Kaneria said on his YouTube channel: “We saw that the Indian dressing room was divided into two groups. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli were sitting apart. Also, Kohli wasn't in the same mood as he used to be when he was the captain. But he's a team man and will come back stronger.”
Like others, Kaneria wasn’t impressed with Rahul’s captaincy in the first ODI against South Africa, saying the stand-in skipper hadn’t shown any spark. He also noted that there were fielding lapses and, most importantly, India lacked the intensity that helped the Proteas side to win the first ODI very easily.
The former spinner added, “After losing the Test series, India would be eager to redeem them and clinch the ODI rubber. But Rahul hasn't shown that spark until now. He had led in the Test series but wasn't able to lift the team to break the South African partnership. At one stage, it didn't look like the Proteas would put up 296 on the scoreboard. Lack of intensity from the Indian team helped the opposition in scoring such a total. There were also fielding lapses from the visitors.”
Kaneria also stressed that Rahul needs to lift the Indian team for the second ODI to be played on January 21 at the same venue in Parl. He said India needed to learn from its mistakes in the first ODI.
He signed off by saying, “Rahul needs to lift up captaincy and batting as well. He needs to lift the team. Also, Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave away many runs against South Africa, and the R Ashwin- Yuzvendra Chahal pair didn't look effective like the Kuldeep Yadav- Chahal duo. India didn't use Venkatesh Iyer's bowling services too. The next ODI will be played at the same venue and India needs to learn from its mistakes. Their intensity was poor in the series opener.”
