How India coach Ravi Shastri handled the Rift between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli? R Sridhar Reveals

After the 2019 World Cup, there were speculations that the Indian team was broken into two allies – Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma being the leaders of them.

Then India captain Virat Kohli was reportedly at odds with current captain Rohit Sharma, and had unfollowed each other on social media, which created waves of controversy in the country. Ravi Shastri was the coach back then and the rift between the duo came into maximum limelight at that time. Although Shastri denied any rift back then, former India fielding coach R Sridhar’s book is giving a different indication of that.

In his book, ‘Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team’, Sridhar narrated that day when Shastri called Virat and Rohit to his room during India’s tour to the Caribbeans.

The book depicts the story how the former Indian coach was firm and sorted things out between the Indian pair swiftly.

“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,” the book read.

“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.'”

Sridhar also went on to praise Shastri and writes how his quick actions resolved the issue between the pair. Shastri’s mantra was simple, which was team above any individual, and every player had to abide by the principle.

“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,” Sridhar further stated.

The relationship between the Indian players since has improved immensely. The alleged micro-groups seem to have dissolved and Kohli has enjoyed his cricket under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.