One area that everyone thought Gautam Gambhir would be looked at closely as the new Indian coach was his troubled relationship with Virat Kohli; however, according to a report in Cricbuzz, Kohli has apparently informed BCCI that he is ready to move on since it’s in the best interest of the side and Indian cricket.
Kohli who had been spending time with family since India’s T20 World Cup win on June 29th has been named in India’s ODI squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, contrary to earlier reports which had indicated this three-match series will be skipped by him along with captain Rohit Sharma. However, both are included in the squad for 50-over leg of the tour where Rohit will continue as team leader. Since Rohit has retired from T2OIs, Suryakumar Yadav was appointed T20 captain. Kohli and Gambhir have had several run-ins on the field and in fact were eye-ball to eye-ball quite a number of times during IPL caught by Cricbuzz. “Virat Kohli is believed to have stated that previous issues will not affect their professional relationship in the dressing room” (Cricbuzz) and said he also “communicated this clearly to the relevant BCCI officials”.
According to another report, these discussions might have taken place after the T20 World Cup final.
This will be Gambhir’s first assignment as head coach of India since taking over from Rahul Dravid. Dravid resigned immediately after last month’s T20 World Cup.
Both Kohli and Gambhir are birds of a feather regarding how they approach playing cricket – both types wear their hearts on their sleeves when representing country and do not hold back expressing either happiness or sorrow even if it means doing so publicly.
No coach or player wants to lose but Gambhir simply takes it one step further due to his intense patriotic fervor that he brings into the dressing room. In the same breath though, Gambhir is no different to Kohli, or vice-versa, and may be one step ahead.
When put together on a common goal of winning matches and trophies for India, these things can make any team unbeatable across all formats with Virat Kohli in Tests and ODIs only going forward after retiring from the T20Is.
