Indian Test captain Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma came out in his support and backed him to perform well despite the off-field controversies.
Virat Kohli’s press conference ahead of Team India’s departure to South Africa for the upcoming three-match Test series has grabbed all the headlines over the past couple of days. Kohli’s candid interaction with the media left several questions in the mind of Indian cricket fans and followers. He first rubbished reports of opting to sit out of the ODI series in South Africa, in which he might have to play under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, if the latter gets fit on time.
Kohli also revealed that he was informed about the ODI captaincy change only one-and-a-half-hour before the test team for South Africa was announced and went on to mention that his decision to relinquish India’s captaincy in T20Is was well received by BCCI officials.
The last two revelations made by Virat were in contrast with the information that BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had provided during interactions with the media, in the immediate aftermath of the decision to hand over India’s white-ball captaincy to Rohit Sharma.
With several former players and experts putting out strong opinions on the matter, Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma also weghed in on the issue.
Speaking on the podcast Khelneeti, Sharma backed India’s Test skipper to forget all the noise when he would enter the field. He clearly stated how “Virat is not greedy for anything” and will give his 100 percent on the field.
“It might be in the back of his mind, but once he steps on the ground, I don’t think it would impact him. Virat is not greedy for anything; he has a lot of self-belief and he knows he will give his 100 percent,” Sharma said.
Apart from Kohli, Sharma expects the BCCI to handle the situation delicately and in the right manner.
“It’s obviously a little disturbing for any player when such conflicts or controversy happens. But I’m hopeful that the board will be tackling this situation efficiently and it won’t be dragged further,” he added.
Sharma also stated that a “needless controversy” was the last thing the Indian team needed ahead of an important tour like the one to South Africa.
He said, “I don’t want to speak much on the subject because it’s directly linked with Virat. But I feel that it could’ve been better if such strong words weren’t used from both sides. Team is doing good; I don’t think we need a needless controversy.”
The Indian team will kick-start their tour of South Africa with the first Test beginning from December 26 in Centurion.