Tussles between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir appear to be a thing of the past as the duo work together for the upcoming six-match white-ball series against Sri Lanka. Both players have reportedly assured the BCCI that there would be no recurrence of their earlier on-field tussles after Gambhir took over as Head Coach last week.
According to a Cricbuzz report, King Kohli has assured the BCCI that his past differences with Gambhir will not affect their relationship within the Indian team. Discussions were reportedly held after the World Cup final in Barbados with both cricketers assuring that they had moved on from earlier disagreements.
The two were also seen laughing and hugging each other during an IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this year. The gesture had gone viral at the time — coming in the wake of a decade-long rivalry.
“The perception is far away from the reality. My relation with Virat Kohli is something this country doesn’t need to know. He has as much right as I do to express himself and help our respective teams win. Our relation is not to give masala to public,” he told Sportskeeda towards the end of May.
“People are very disappointed with my behaviour. I hugged Naveen, and then the other day, Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir) came and hugged me. Your masala is over, so you’re booing. We’re not kids anymore,” Kohli added during a recent Puma event.
Rahul Dravid concluded his tenure as the head coach of Team India last month with the T20 World Cup final that saw India beat South Africa by seven runs to win the prestigious trophy after 17 years. Gambhir will now hit the ground running with the Indian tour of Sri Lanka — which also lays the groundwork for the jointly hosted T20 World Cup in 2026.
Big-hitting batter Suryakumar Yadav was named captain of the Indian T20 team for the three-match series against Sri Lanka on Thursday. ODI skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli also made headlines after being included for the 50-over series next month.
(With inputs from agencies)