Rohit Sharma 'unfollows' Anushka Sharma, sparks talk of rift in team

Is all not well within the Indian cricket team, and are superstar egos and feuding WAGs to blame?

Hushed whispers of a “rift” between captain Virat Kohli and his deputy in the ODI and T20 teams, Rohit Sharma, have turned into open speculation after Rohit ‘unfollowed’ the Instagram account of actor Anushka Sharma, Virat’s wife.

Rohit had earlier ‘unfollowed’ Virat too. Anushka, on her part, shared a photo on Instagram with the cryptic message: “A wise man once said nothing. Only truth can shake hands with silence in a mess of false appearances.”

Kohli still follows Rohit but not his wife Ritika Sajdeh, while Anushka has stopped following both. Ritika too doesn’t follow either the captain or his wife.

On Friday, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) that runs the Indian cricket board waded into this complicated web of rumours, innuendo and social-media thrust and parry, with its chief Vinod Rai telling PTI, “These are all stories created by you guys.”

BCCI had earlier denied it was mulling a “split captaincy”, which would have made Rohit captain in ODIs and T20. BCCI, however, has not denied that a senior player had angered the captain and coach by breaching the ‘family clause’, which specified the length of time players could spend with family during the World Cup.

Speculative reports of a ‘rift’ between Kohli and Rohit started doing the rounds soon after India lost to New Zealand in the semifinal of the World Cup, with some accounts hinting that the team was divided into two distinct lobbies. Some have also pointed out that a few years ago, Rohit and opening partner Shikhar Dhawan had left the management company Virat was associated with, allegedly leading to cold vibes.