On Wednesday, fans and the cricketing world greeted scenes from India’s practice session at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo with relief that their former captain, Virat Kohli, alongside the newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir are well on their way to making peace and achieving the common goal – success for Team India.
Virat Kohli arrived in Sri Lanka as part of India’s ODI squad ahead of the three-match series before engaging in a long chat with Gambhir; however, their hearty laughter cleared all doubts that they have since buried their bitterness and are comfortable as old colleagues reconciling under new roles.
They were widely shared through social media platforms including by Kohli’s IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and even ICC too joined the party.
A cheeky caption from RCB’s ‘X’ accompanied this image showing both Virat Kohli and Gambhir laughing: “Our seasoned right-arm quick convincing the gaffer to give him the new ball.”
Rajasthan Royals too could not prevent themselves from sharing and reacting to these photos, which portrayed camaraderie between Kohli and Gambhir who were part of India’s 2011 ODI World Cup win.
RR post read: “Can’t unsee it”
Even the International Cricket Council joined on Instagram with an image of Gambhir breaking up while writing “Why is Gautam Gambhir going” followed by a laugh emoji.
Similarly like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma has also returned following his well-deserved break after announcing his retirement from T20Is last month when India won T20 World Cup. That was also Rahul Dravid’s last time as an Indian Head Coach during that tournament itself.
Interestingly enough, after initial reports stated that Rohit and Kohli would not be available for ODIs in Sri Lanka, it was recently reported that new head coach Gambhir had asked senior players to make themselves available for selection in the three-match series resulting in their subsequent inclusion in the squad.
Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian side defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 in T20Is before the ODIs. Surya became India’s T20I captain after T20 World Cup.
