This has been happening for years: Sunil Gavaskar rubbishes rift rumours between Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli

Following the 2019 ODI World Cup, rift rumours between then skipper Virat Kohli and his white-ball deputy Rohit Sharma intensified.Kohli, however, rubbished all such claims before India's tour of West Indies in August, 2019.

The rift rumours died down for a bit after a few months before it again hit the headlinesin early December, 2021. After Rohit took over from Virat as the limited-overs captain, many speculated that all isn't well between the two superstar cricketers. Nonetheless, Kohli once again shunned all such claims in his explosive presser, on December 15,before Team India's trip to South Africa.

After the India-West Indies three-match ODI series opener, held in Ahmedabad on Sunday (February 6), Little Master Sunil Gavaskar has slammed all such speculations seeing Rohit-Kohli's on-field chemistryversus Kieron Pollard & Co. Both the senior cricketers were seen discussing strategiesand helping each other out in taking DRS calls.

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Thus, Gavaskar told Star Sports after India's six-wicket win over the Windies, “Why wouldn't they be getting along? They are playing for India. All these talks that you generally hear about two players not gelling and etc. are all speculations. According to reliable sources or allegedly or reportedly. Nobody actually tells you and this has been happening for a years. And these guys don't even bother about it. You wouldn't even bother about these kind of speculations because you yourself know what the truth is. And so there is nothing."

“There are often speculations that the captain who is now a player in the team will not want the new captain to succeed. This is nonsense. Because if he doesn't score runs or a bowler doesn't pick wickets then he is going to be out of the team. He has already lost the captaincy or opted out of captaincy, now you don't contribute with the bat or ball then you are going to be out of the team. So all these talks are mere speculations from people who have nothing better to do and are trying and creating stories. So don't you worry. Today Kohli didn't get runs but he will get runs whether he is playing under Rohit Sharma or any other captain.”

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Rohit-led India produced a clinical performance in the first ODI versus West Indies at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday to go 1-0 up in the series. Bowling first, India dismissed the visitors for 176 and chased down the score with six wickets and 22 overs to spare.

The second and penultimate ODI will be held on Wednesday (February 09) at the same venue.