Sitanshu Kotak shuts down rift rumours between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir

For a long while, it was rumoured that things were not going fine between India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir and legendary batter Virat Kohli. Even though both are not communicating with each other. However, India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak dismissed all these rumours in the post-match press conference after the 2nd ODI. He stated that both men are on talking terms and there are no issues within their working relationship. He also added that he doesn't understand where the rumours were coming from in the first place.

“Virat and Gautam, they must have talked 10 times today. I don’t think he needs a bridge. Virat, basically, before going into batting, talked about certain things. Honestly, as a batting coach, till the time he doesn’t feel anything or he doesn’t see anything, his batting shouldn’t be disturbed. You shouldn’t say much because of the way he bats. Mainly, about how his footwork was going and certain things, he asked me before. Then after the nets, we were talking. Apart from that, what you’re saying, I don’t know where the rumours come from, but they do come,” Kotak said.

The question was raised ahead of the India vs England ODI series, when a couple of social media videos surfaced, in which Gautam and Virat Kohli had avoided interacting with each other during training and discussion. 

In this video, Gautam Gambhir was seen watching Virat’s batting session in the nets, alongside Sitanshu Kotak. However, after a while, he seemingly conveyed something to Virat through Kotak; yet, there were no reports of any direct communication between the two. 

After the conclusion of the first two ODIs, the series is currently level 1-1. The Indian Team won the first game by 6 wickets, while England bounced back in the second ODI and defeated the visitors by 4 wickets. The 3rd ODI will be played at Lord’s, London, on July 19, Sunday. This could be Rohit Sharma’s last match as an international cricketer.