No Rift? Gambhir Praises Kohli And Rohit: 'Hopefully, They Can...'

Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir said Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma did what ‘they’ve been doing for such a long time’ in the three-ODI series against South Africa. He said he hopes to see them continue

contributing because it would ‘always be important’ in the 50-over format.

Gambhir’s comments, recorded to the media after India beat South Africa by nine wickets in Vizag to seal the series 2-1, would come as a huge relief to a section of Indian fans worried about a supposedly bubbling rift inside the men’s dressing room. Several reports have claimed there has been a breakdown in communication between Gambhir, Kohli, and Rohit since the star duo have become one-format players.

“They’re doing what they do,” Gambhir said. “They’ve been doing it for such a long time for Indian cricket. Hopefully, they can continue doing the same, which is always going to be important come the white ball format and the 50-over format.”

Kohli and Rohit seem to be pushing hard for a spot each in the 2027 World Cup. The fact that both would be close to 40 that year would perhaps go against Gambhir’s ruthless philosophy.

However, neither has given a chance to be dropped either. Rohit was the Player of the Series against Australia last month and Kohli won the same against South Africa, with over 300 runs, including two centuries.

‘Hopefully, Gaikwad, Jaiswal have massive futures ahead’

Gambhir also praised Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who hit a century each after coming in as injury replacements for Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer.

“Someone like Rutu, who’s batted out of possession, but he’s a quality player, we all know. But we wanted to give him an opportunity in this series, because the kind of form he was in with India ‘A’. And he actually grabbed that opportunity with both hands, getting a 100 in the second game when we were under pressure. We were 40 for 2, then getting that kind of 100 was proper quality. And Yashasvi as well, we’ve seen how much quality he has, especially what he does in Test cricket. And obviously, it’s just the start of his career, especially in white ball cricket. Hopefully, he has a massive future ahead, and so does Rutu.”