Team India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has brushed aside the rumours of a rift between the Indian talismanic batter Virat Kohli and the Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir, stating that there are no issues between the duo.
Speaking at the post-match press conference after India’s four-wicket defeat to England at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Thursday, July 16, Kotak has asserted that he doesn’t understand where the rumours come from.
“Virat and Gautam, they must have talked 10 times today. I don’t think they need a bridge,” Kotak said in the post-match press conference.
“And Virat, basically, before going into batting, he talked about certain things. Because, Virat, I honestly say, as a batting coach, till the time he doesn’t feel anything, or if he doesn’t see anything, his batting shouldn’t be disturbed. And we shouldn’t say much, the way he bats,” he added.
“But, mainly, how is his footwork going? Certain things, he asked me before. And then, after the nets, he was talking. Apart from that, what you are saying, I don’t know, where do the rumours come from, but they do come,” said Kotak.
Kohli scored 65 runs off 66 balls in the second ODI. Apart from him, Shreyas Iyer also scored a fifty while the rest of the batting order collapsed. Joe Root’s unbeaten 99 ensured that England won the match and levelled the series.
“Virat, if you have seen, while he was batting only, he has sent a message also to us, and he has told the head coach that the short balls are actually not going through. So that we knew,” he concluded.
India will lock horns with England in the third and final ODI of the series at Lord’s, London on Sunday, July 19.
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