Former India coach reveals how Ravi Shastri resolved dispute between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after 2019 World Cup

After the team’s semi-final defeat in the 2019 50-over World Cup, former India fielding coach R Sridhar stated that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have split the team into two camps. After India’s elimination from the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinals, there were rumors that Men in Blue skipper Rohit and Kohli had a breakout.

Sridhar added that when India traveled to the West Indies immediately following the World Cup, the former head coach Ravi Shastri called Rohit and Kohli into his office to settle the matter in his “usual no-nonsense manner.” Ravi Shastri stepped in and Kohli and Rohit pressed the restart button. Even while there wasn’t much of a reason to be concerned at first, there was a risk that whispers may infiltrate and create long-term harm.

I want you to put all this behind you and get together for us to move forward: R Sridhar

“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 his book Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team.

“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 no-nonsense manner. ‘I want you to put all this behind you and get together for us to move forward,” the former coach added.

After that, Sridhar talked about how the two stars’ friendship developed as they could be seen supporting one another when they were successful on the field. “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 doing so,” Sridhar asserted.