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Is the rift between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for real?

COA chief Vinod Rai breaks silence amid soaring speculations

[File] India captain Virat Kohli (left) congratulates Rohit Sharma after the team won their World Cup match against South Africa at the Rose Bowl | AFP

Ever since the Men in Blue's shocking exit from the recent World Cup, rumours of a rift between Indian skipper Virat Kohli and vice captain Rohit Sharma had been doing the rounds. Speculations of a possible fallout between the two top order batsmen of Team India soared high when Rohit Sharma unfollowed Kohli's wife Anushka Sharma on Instagram. 

Rohit was not following Kohli on the picture-sharing platform for a while. However, what added fuel to the fire was that soon after Rohit unfollowed her on Instagram, Anushka shared a cryptic post that read: "A wise man once said nothing. Only truth can shake hands with silence in a mess of false appearances...". Soon, social media started reading between the lines, hinting at a possible cold war between the duo. 

However, now Committee of Administrators (COA) chief Vinod Rai has rejected the matter as "stories created" by media. "These are all stories created by you guys," Rai said in response to queries on whether India's two top batsmen are indeed at loggerheads. Neither Kohli nor Rohit have so far commented on the reported rift for which no specific reason has yet come out.

Reports that the BCCI was contemplating split captaincy—Sharma for limited-overs and Kohli for Tests—had also further escalated the cold war speculations. However, the possibility was ruled too has already been ruled out by the BCCI officials. 

While Sharma was the highest run-getter at the World Cup with his record-breaking five hundreds, Kohli also had a decent outing in England, scoring five half-centuries.