It is surely not a good time to be Virat Kohli. After having lost both the away Test series to South Africa and England, there is no hiding for the current skipper. There are certain section of people who aren’t impressed with Kohli’s ‘monopoly’ while taking decisions for Indian cricket. Time and again he has backed under-fire head coach Ravi Shastri while the latter kept on making headline grabbing statements.
There was an infamous rift between Kohli and ex-coach Anil Kumble and it became evident once Kumble stepped down from the hot seat post the Champions Trophy last year. Former Indian spinner Bishan Singh Bedi feels Kohli’s reservations against Kumble’s style of coaching was the reason behind the episode.
Virat Kohli-Anil Kumble rift
It was widely speculated that the duo didn’t used to get on well with each other and this created an uneasy atmosphere in the dressing room. The skipper though dismissed such rumors and as India did well there were hardly any talks that went on at the later stages of the competition. “That is what I am saying, one person [Virat Kohli] is doing all he wants and we are letting it happen. What would Anil [Kumble] have said, he was gracious to leave it like that,” Bishan Singh Bedi told Aaj Tak.
Ahead of India’s much anticipated tour of Australia, Kohli responded calls of Shastri being a ‘yes man’ to him. The skipper denied it completely and said that on many occasions the two had difference of opinion. “I don’t think there’s anyone who has said no to me more than him in Indian cricket. Honestly, because he’s one guy I can speak to and get an honest opinion and he’ll tell me something that if it doesn’t need to be done, it doesn’t need to be done. I’ve made more changes to my game listening to him than anyone else in the past,” Kohli said in the press conference.