Every day now, for the past week and more, there have been stories – of the speculative kind, with BCCI "sources", the ones that read too much into absolutely nothing and the ones that unabashedly revel in a so-called "controversy."
All of it while India were preparing for a major ICC tournament.
So, when Virat Kohli was asked about the supposed rift with the India coach Anil Kumble, during his pre-match press conference for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 match against Pakistan, everyone was eagerly waiting for some tidbit, something to continue the flow of those stories.
Expectedly, Kohli gave them nothing, knocking down the stories of the alleged rift and emphasising on India being focused on the game against Pakistan and nothing else.
Of course, there was also a jab at the media about being responsible and not writing such "speculative" stories, and you could understand, to a certain extent, where he was coming from.
Too much of the focus, nowadays, when it comes to sport, is on everything that surrounds it. Yes, this is a "news story dies in 20 minutes, so we need to create something new all the time" era, but how nice it would be to just talk about the cricket.
Talk about Virat Kohli going into his first game as captain in a major tournament, with that first match just happening to be against the biggest possible opponent.
Talk about Sarfraz Ahmed doing the same, and if Pakistan, this youngish side, can cope with the India team, who are ranked six places above them in the current ICC ODI rankings.
Talk about that fabulous bowling attack of India, with two world-class stars set to miss out, purely because there is no room to play all of them.
Talk about MS Dhoni, and how this might be the perfect opportunity for him to shut up all those naysayers, who don't seem to get off his back.
Talk about Mohammad Amir possibly causing India plenty of problems with that ridiculous bowling talent of his.
Or of R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja, and if the spinners can have an impact in this game in Birmingham.
Talk about the crowd that's going to come into Edgbaston, and what a terrific atmosphere they're going to create – blue one half (maybe a bit more) and green the other.
Talk about what this game could mean to the winning or losing team – win and you get that momentum to get to the semifinals; lose and it might be too big a blow to recover from, especially when the Champions Trophy is such a blink-and-you-could-be-out tournament.
Enough of the negativity, the speculation, the constant talk of this "rift". Let's just go back to the cricket, and that glorious battle between bat and ball.
