MUMBAI, Dec 15: Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has said that Mohammad Azharuddin should not have alluded to a rift between Test skipper Virat Kohli and the newly-appointed white-ball captain Rohit Sharma unless he had “some inside information” to prove it.
With Rohit Sharma missing the three-Test series in South Africa due to a hamstring injury and Virat Kohli reportedly planning to skip the three One-day Internationals due to personal reasons, it has given rise to speculation that all is not well in the team.
Former India captain Azharuddin took to twitter on Tuesday, indicating a rift in the leadership group.
“Virat Kohli has informed that he’s not available for the ODI series & Rohit Sharma is unavailable fr d upcoming test. There is no harm in taking a break but d timing has to be better. This just substantiates speculation abt d rift. Neither will be giving up d another form of cricket,” Azharuddin had tweeted.
But Gavaskar told India Today that unless there is proof one should not ‘jump to conclusion’.
“Unless both the players come out with something, we should not jump to conclusions. Yes, Azharuddin has said something but if he has got some inside information about what has happened then he should be coming out and telling us what happened,” said Gavaskar.
“Till then, I will give the benefit of the doubt to both the players. Because both have served Indian cricket brilliantly and I don’t think it is fair at all for any one of us, without having exact information, to be pointing fingers at either of them,” added Gavaskar.