Reports: Team India player refused to post ‘all is well’ message even at CoA’s advice

Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai recently said the speculation about a rift between India captain Virat Kohli and his deputy in limited-overs Rohit Sharma is nothing but the media’s creation. He rubbished the reports outright a few days after the CoA had said that it would not take up the issue till the players themselves had raised it. However, another revelation suggested that all might be still not well despite the CoA’s reaction.

A senior functionary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said that one of the CoA members had advised a player to post a message on the social media saying that all was well with the team’s environment. But it did not see daylight, hence triggering the speculation more.

“Everyone is aware that there is tension brewing and while the CoA has tried its best to deny any rumours of rift in the ODI team in the media, one of the members spoke to a senior player asking him to send out a positive message/statement in the matter. But not much progress has been made in this regard,” Sify Sports cited reports quoting the board functionary as saying.

Rohit Sharma unfollowing Anushka Sharma fuels speculation

The fact that Rohit reportedly unfollowed Kohli’s actor wife Anushka Sharma and the latter’s cryptic message following that gave the impression across the board that the fire was yet to be doused. And it certainly did not help the CoA’s efforts to show that everything was fine.

It all started after India lost to England in their league game of the Cricket World Cup 2019 at Edgbaston on June 30. The bowlers were reportedly given a showdown following the 31-run loss and they were apparently not happy with it for they felt there were more areas that one needed to look into.

Things got worse after India lost the semi-final to New Zealand by 18 runs at Old Trafford on July 14 to crash out of the tournament. It was being alleged that decisions in the team were centralized in the hands of Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri.

Another BCCI functionary said the reports about the rift needed to be addressed early so that the team’s performance was not affected. He also took a dig at the CoA saying why was it not dispelling what they say “media creation” and rather giving impetus to it.