Last Updated:
Rajiv Shukla has claimed ‘a section of media’ is spreading the ‘rubbish’ news about rifts between key Indian cricket figures.
Gautam Gambhir (L) and Rohit Sharma.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Rajiv Shukla has vehemently rubbished claims of rifts between the men’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, skipper Rohit Sharma and chief of selectors Ajit Agarkar. Shukla blamed ‘a section of the media’ for spreading the ‘completely wrong statements’.
Such reports came through in the aftermath of India’s 3-1 series loss in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. They claimed that since Gambhir took over the team from Rahul Dravid — with whom Rohit shared an excellent camaraderie — he hadn’t seen the Delhi man eye-to-eye, leading to a divided dressing room.
“It’s a completely wrong statement,” Shukla told media persons in New Delhi. “There is no rift between the chairman of the selection committee (Ajit Agarkar) and the coach, and no rift between the captain and the coach. This is all rubbish being spread by a section of the media.”
The controversies got complicated further when Rohit dropped himself from the fifth Test of the series when India was trailing 2-1. He had scored just 31 runs in the previous three matches and claimed that he wanted to sit out because of his poor form, even as some reports in India claimed that he was dropped.
Later, it was claimed that in a meeting between the BCCI, the skipper, the coach and Agarkar, Rohit asked to remain as captain. Shukla denied that as well.
“This is also wrong that Rohit has insisted on captaincy. He is the captain. Form or lack of form is part and parcel of the game. These are phases, nothing new. When he saw he was out of form, he dropped himself from the fifth Test,” Shukla said in a media interaction in New Delhi on Monday, January 13.
It remains to be seen whether BCCI’s strong response means that Rohit will stay as India’s Test captain for the foreseeable future. The next series is India’s five-match tour of England in June.
In the meantime, he has been seen practicing in the nets with the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team. His vice-captain, Jasprit Bumrah, who led India in the first and fifth Tests against, is injured after picking up a back issue due to his excessive workload down under.
