Former India fielding coach opens up on Kohli vs Sharma rift: 'There was a Rohit camp and a Virat camp'

Former India fielding coach R Sridhar recently opened up on the rumours surrounding a rift between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma when the former was the captain of the national team.

The reported rift between the two senior-most India players started sometime during the 2019 ODI World Cup in England and lasted for almost two years, even though both cricketers involved and their teammates regularly rubbished all the reports.

Kohli camp vs Rohit camp

Sridhar is now coming out with his book in which he has written about the entire episode and how then-coach Ravi Shastri handled the situation.

"After the 2019 World Cup, there was a lot of bad press about what allegedly happened in the dressing room during our campaign and following our loss to New Zealand in the semifinal.

"We were informed that there was a Rohit camp and a Virat camp, that someone had unfollowed another on social media – stuff that could be unsettling if you allowed it to fester," Sridhar wrote in 'Coaching Beyond'.

How Shastri calmed things down

"We landed in the United States (US) some 10 days after the World Cup for a T20 series against West Indies in Lauderhill. One of the first things Ravi did on arrival was to call Virat and Rohit to his room and impress upon them that for Indian cricket to be healthy, they needed to be on the same page.

"'Whatever happened on social media, that's all fine, but you two are the most senior cricketers so this must stop,' Ravi said in his typical non-nonsense manner. 'I want you to put all this behind and get together for us to move forward'".

Kohli, Rohit hit the reset button

Sridhar went on to write that the meeting with Shastri changed the equation between Kohli and Rohit as both "hit the reset button".

"You could see that things started to get better after that. Ravi's action was swift, simple and decisive. It was just getting both the guys together, sitting them down and making them talk. Ravi didn't waste any time in doing so.

"That he felt encouraged to call the white-ball captain and his deputy to clearly state his mind is indicative of the kind of atmosphere we had facilitated. That Virat and Rohit saw reason in Ravi's stance and immediately got down to business was the ultimate tribute to our culture 'one for all, all for one, but team above all'," added Sridhar.