Amid rumours of a rift between Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma, the skipper will skip the customary press conference ahead of team's West Indies tour.
As per the norm, the captain of the team holds a presser before heading for tours abroad. Kohli, however, will not be holding the presser as India leave for US on Monday, 29 July, where they are set to face the Windies for T20s before heading to the Barbados for T20 final, three ODIs and two Test matches.
A BCCI source told ANI, “There will be no pre-departure press conference by the Indian team leaving for the West Indies. There is no window for a press conference ahead of the departure. We tried but it was not possible,” reported Hindustan Times.
Rumours about a rift between Kohli and Sharma have been in the news ever since the Men in Blue failed to win the recent World Cup held in England and Wales, reported IANS.
From talks of issues between the senior players to rumours that some senior members of the team were not happy with one cricketer breaking the 'family clause', there have been stories making headlines every other day since 9 July when India lost to New Zealand in the semifinals.
Although both Rohit and Kohli have not spoken anything on the issue, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) said that the matter will not be taken into consideration unless the same is brought to them by the players themselves.
Committee of Administrators (COA) chief Vinod Rai on Friday rejected the talk as "stories created" by media.
“These are all stories created by you guys.”Vinod Rai
A recent social media activity of Rohit though has added fuel to the reports of the rift between him and his skipper.
The 32-year-old, who has not been following Kohli for quite some time now, has apparently "unfollowed" Anushka Sharma – wife of India skipper – on Instagram.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times, IANS)
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