Virat Kohli clears the air: The former Indian white-ball captain has once again ruled out an alleged rift between him and Rohit Sharma.
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India Test captain Virat Kohli has admitted that the team will miss all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on the upcoming tour of South Africa. Jadeja, 33, had suffered a right forearm injury to miss the recently concluded second Test against New Zealand in Mumbai.
“We all know [Ravindra] Jadeja’s quality and he will be missed. But we have enough bench strength. As much as we will miss him, I am sure that will not be a deciding factor,” Kohli told reporters in a virtual press conference from Mumbai.
Off-spinner Jayant Yadav, who can contribute with the bat as well, had replaced Jadeja at the Wankhede Stadium earlier this month. The 31-year old had been subsequently named as the second spin-bowling option after Ravichandran Ashwin in India’s 18-member Test squad for a three-match Test series in South Africa.
Readers must note that Jadeja had played ahead of Ashwin as a lone spin-bowling option in four Test matches in England earlier this year.
Virat Kohli clears the air around rift with Rohit Sharma
The last one week in Indian cricket has been witness to a different set of reports claiming contrasting speculations behind Kohli getting sacked as ODI captain, Rohit Sharma’s promotion as ODI captain, Kohli’s alleged unavailability for the upcoming ODI series in South Africa and Sharma’s hamstring injury.
Kohli, who put forward his side of the story around his ODI demotion in addition to confirming his availability for the ODI series, yet again ruled out an alleged rift between him and Sharma.
“Mere aur Rohit [Sharma] ke beech mein kuch nahin hai. Mai 2.5 saal se yeh hi bol raha hoon. Mai thak chuka hu bol-bol ke. Mere aur Rohit ke beech koi problem nahi hai [There’s nothing between myself and Rohit. I’ve been clarifying for the last two and a half years or so. I’m really tired. There’s no problem between us],” Kohli added.
Sourav Ganguly was a victim of pathetic handling by the BCCI of his issues with Greg Chappell. Strangely, his own handling of Virat Kohli has been awful. It is disappointing that Dada has allowed politics to create a Rohit Sharma-Kohli rift, based on reports.
— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) December 15, 2021
Virat Kohli on Rohit Sharma
Kohli, who will be playing as a specialist batter in the white-ball team after more than half-a-decade, was praiseworthy of Sharma’s leadership skills and expressed his “absolute support” in whatever vision Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid set for the team.
“My responsibility is obviously to push the team in the right direction. Something that I’ve always looked to do; even before I became the captain. That mindset has never changed and it will never change.
“Rohit is a very able captain and very tactically sound. We’ve seen that in the IPL as well as for India. Rahul [Dravid] bhai is a very balanced coach. Great man-manager. Both of them will have my absolute support and my contribution is whatever vision they set for the team,” Kohli mentioned.
