Why Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma's alleged 'rift' isn't Indian cricket's first major conflict

Reports of an alleged rift between Team India's Test skipper Virat Kohli and newly appointed white-ball series skipper Rohit Sharma have begun to grab headlines. 

This comes after “reports” emerged just days after the BCCI axed Virat Kohli from ODI captaincy that the batter was considering making himself unavailable for the India vs South Africa ODI Series. Those reports suggested that the player wanted to be home for his daughter’s first birthday, which is acceptable, but this emerging only after him being forced to relinquish captaincy has prompted people to raise concerns over a possible rift. Earlier when the player hung up his T20I captaincy boots, he explicitly expressed his desire to be at the helm in ODIs but the BCCI did not agree to a split captaincy and went ahead to appointing Rohit Sharma as the skipper.

India's newly-appointed vice-captain Rohit Sharma was recently ruled out of the upcoming three-match Test series against South Africa due to a hamstring injury. It was earlier reported during the day that the player was hit on his hand while batting against throwdown and that he could miss the India vs South Africa Test series but the official announcement mentioned "hamstring". This again led people to wonder what exactly has been going on. 

If at all there is a "rift" between the cricketers, this wouldn't be the first time Indian cricket has been facing a conflict between players or staff members. Here are some of the biggest rifts in the history Indian cricket team.

Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev

Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were at loggerheads for a period of time. The first incident occurred when Kapil declared the innings with the former batting at 236 at Madras in 1983, a decision Gavaskar wasn't happy with. Things also got worse in 1984 when Kapil Dev was dropped for having played an attacking shot in a Test match at Delhi against England in 1984, which is said to have cost India the game. 

Kapil Dev had claimed it was Gavaskar's doing while Gavaskar said that he wasn't even present at the selection committee's meeting. Eventually, BCCI President NKP Salve had to call a meeting to reach a truce between the two. The duo has denied any rivalry claims and maintained that the media overplayed their rift and that things were not as bad sated. 

Navjot Singh Sidhu and Mohammed Azharuddin

Navjot Singh Sidhu decided to abruptly walk out of India’s England tour after a  falling out with then skipper Mohammed Azharuddin. It was understood that Sidhu could not take in the constant bad-mouthing of Azharuddin. A BCCI panel investigating the incident concluded that Azharuddin was not showing the slightest disrespect to Sidhu and that whatever he said wasn't with the intention of abuse but has been seen as a very common way to address friends. 

Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin

Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin were two of Indian cricket's most pivotal figures in the 1990s but things were not well between them with Sachin Tendulkar believing that Azhar was not putting in his best while he batted and that he was trying to sabotage the team.

Azhar led India at the 1996 World Cup which India could not win tournament despite being favourites and this was followed by a poor tour of England saw Tendulkar replace Azhar as captain, but in 1998 Sachin was relived from captaincy and Azhar was again made the captain, but in 1999 after India crashed out of the 1999 World Cup early, Sachin was once again made the captain and it is understood he refused to allow Azhar into the tour. Months later in 2000, Azhar made a comeback into the Indian team and Sachin resigned. Sachin stated that he was taking moral responsibility for the team's failures but many believed it had to do with Azhar's return to the team.

Later that year, India were shaken by a match-fixing scandal with Azharuddin named in it. Sachin had a rift with Azhar since he felt the player wasn't playing his best and in his testimony to the CBI stated that he believed that Azhar was in league with bookies and had not been putting in 100% effort during games at most times. In the end, Azharuddin was eventually banned.

Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar 

Back in 2004, an argument broke out between Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, then India’s stand-in-skipper. The incident occurred during India's tour to Pakistan. In the first innings, Dravid declared India’s innings at 675 for five, leaving Tendulkar not out on 194. Sachin Tendulkar sure wasn’t a happy man after missing out on a double century. While there was no huge rift between the duo, there was a small duration of silence.

Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli

Anil Kumble stepped down from the post of head coach of the Indian cricket team in 2017 after a rumoured rift with India captain Virat Kohli. It is understood that the coach and the captain have had a spat with regard to selection matters. 

Image: PTI