Sharma unfriends Anushka Kohli
THE Indian cricket team face one of their strongest tests of the decade as two of their modern-day icons, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, are reportedly at odds with each other.
Officially, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the sport’s governing body in the country, maintains that “the rift is nothing but media creation”.
Indian cricket fans are still recovering after their beloved team suffered a shock defeat in the World Cup semi-final match against New Zealand recently.
It has been alleged that the team was divided into two groups – one supporting captain Kohli and the other backing vice-captain Sharma.
There have been calls for India to split the captaincy between Kohli and Sharma with Kohli retaining the captaincy in redball (Test cricket) and Sharma doing the duties in white-ball (limited overs).
The BCCI, however, has put paid to any speculation of this happening by naming Kohli as the captain in all formats for the tour of the US where the Indians will face the West Indies.
Evidence suggests there may indeed be some truth to the rumours of the rift after it was found that Sharma “unfollowed” Kohli’s wife, Anushka, on Instagram.
Common sense dictates that all surely cannot be well if Sharma actually made an effort to “unfollow” the wife of a teammate. This fiasco seems like a train wreck in motion. From a die-hard Indian fan’s perspective it is a tragedy, while from an outsider’s perspective a comedy.
Amid the reports of the tension between Kohli and Sharma, Indian cricket stars KL Rahul and Yuzvendra Chahal took to social media to “follow” Anushka.
Rahul and Chahal are known to be close to Kohli. It has even been suggested that Rahul plays in all formats for the nation due to his close relationship with the captain.
India must rectify this situation as soon as possible to get back on track and launch a credible challenge for the T20 World Championship next year. | Eshlin Vedan