File image of Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma.© AFP
On the first day of the New Year, several reports emerged that claimed there are rifts in the Indian dressing room. It happened right after India’s 184-run defeat to Australia in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Head coach Gautam Gambhir is believed to have said, “Bahut ho gaya (I’ve had enough) in his dressing room speech, with the dressing room environment being ‘far from ideal’. While reacting to such reports, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said that these all stories are cooked by media to keep the fans and their users engaged. He backed his opinion by saying that such stories emerge only after India lose a match.
“Every time the Indian team has not done well, these things about rifts and all that (come up). It is a common story. It’s almost as if we people feel that the Indian team cannot lose. So if they lose, there has to be some reason other than cricketing,” Gavaskar told India Today.
“I don’t think any of the players really give a thought to what has been written. They just want to focus on how to get better than what they were in the previous Test,” he added.
Amid speculation of unrest in the dressing room following a huge loss in the Boxing Day Test, Gambhir also clarified in a presser that it were “just reports, not truth”.
NDTV, through its sources, has understood that Rohit is likely to be “rested” for the fifth Test vs Australia. Another point that has put doubts over Rohit’s selection for the game that Gambhir came for the press conference on the eve of the game. The event is usually attended by the team captain.
Trying to find out the reason behind it, Gavaskar said: “The captain addressed the media just two days ago, so maybe he felt that he didn’t need to address the media again and the coach had not addressed the media at all. So maybe the coach had to come and say that nothing of that sort had happened, which again should tell you a thing or two about those reports.”
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