Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma
Getty Images/ICC

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar has stated that the stories of a rift between Indian captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are possibly spread by a frustrated member of the Indian cricket team. In his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar further added that the player might be jealous of their success so he is doing it or, it can be some cricket administrators.

"Whoever starts such stories is definitely not a well-wisher of Indian cricket. More often than not it's a frustrated player in the squad who gives wings to stories like this. His envy and jealousy harms the team. Then of course it suits some administrators to play their own game of politics," Gavaskar wrote.

The 70-year-old legendary former batsman mentioned that even though the duo have rubbished the rumours, those are not going to stop soon as every time Rohit falls cheaply, everybody will think that he did that on purpose. Nobody will realise that he may have to face the axe if he fails regularly.

Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar.STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images.

"Virat and Rohit can shout from the rooftops as much as they can but this story won't end. Every time Rohit fails there will be those who will nod their heads knowingly and wink, hinting he deliberately got out. Nobody even gives a thought to the fact that if a player fails he is likely to be dropped and so he would be hurting his own chances of survival in the squad," Gavaskar claimed.

Men in Blue skipper Virat Kohli had cleared all the speculations regarding the rift in the pre-departure press conference of the West Indies tour. He also said that if media personnel were in the dressing room, they would witness the healthy atmosphere there.

The rumours regarding a rift between Kohli and Sharma have been making rounds since India's exit from the ICC Cricket World 2019 semi-finals. The speculations got some ground due to the Indian opener's strange behaviour on social media. In fact, during the T20 series against West Indies, Kohli posted pictures with his teammates in which Sharma was missing. This also fuelled questions from fans regarding the current relationship between the Indian captain and vice-captain.