A day before the first ODI of the ongoing series between India vs England in Birmingham, Team India batsman Virat Kohli and head coach Gautam Gambhir were not unanimous. During the practice session a day before the match, both of them maintained distance from each other.
Virat Kohli will return to the Indian national cricket team through the ODI series against England. Before the start of the series, relations between the star batsman and head coach Gautam Gambhir seemed to be strained, as neither of them spoke to each other during the entire practice session.
There is pressure on Gautam Gambhir due to continuous defeats.
India’s first match will be against Englandscheduled tribe ODI match tonight on 14th July after losing the 5 match T20 series. The Men in Blue have not registered a win so far in the current UK tour. Against England, India suffered a 2–0 defeat in the two-match T20I series, then a 4–0 defeat against England in the five-match T20I series.
Now head coach Gautam Gambhir is under severe pressure due to the continuing losing streak for a long time. There will be pressure on the entire team as well. By winning the ODI series, the Men in Blue will look to justify their reputation in the white-ball format.
Not a single word between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir on Birmingham ground
According to Ray Sports journalist Ankan Kar, during a practice session a day before India vs England 1scheduled tribe Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir did not talk to each other in ODI because they were maintaining distance from each other. Virat was seen talking to his other teammates and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak at the training ground, but not with the head coach.
In between the nets, Virat Kohli and Sitanshu Kotak were engaged in a long conversation, with the batsman looking a little excited. Virat was also seen talking with the other superstar of the ODI team, Rohit Sharma.
When Virat was batting in the nets, head coach Gautam Gambhir maintained a distance and did not talk to him. The atmosphere of the dressing room and team bus remained away from the public eye, but it became clear from the practice ground that the relationship between Virat and Gautam Gambhir is not good.
However, when Rohit Sharma entered the nets and had his batting session, Gambhir was seen chatting with the opening batsman.
Virat Kohli was the first to enter the nets
It is also noteworthy that Virat was the first batsman to enter the nets for batting practice. Other batsmen of the team, like Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and captain Shubman Gill also did their job in the nets.
Among the bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav and Washington Sundar also looked solid in the training session. But India’s T20 captain Shreyas Iyer was not with the team during training. Why Iyer was not there is unknown.
The visible distance between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir was one of the highlight moments of the Indian cricket team’s training session.
