India captain Virat Kohli on Saturday denied reports of a rift between himself and head coach Anil Kumble. A day before India’s opening match of the Champions Trophy, against arch rivals Pakistan, Kohli put the speculation to rest by saying that “there are no problems whatsoever” between him and Kumble, as was reported in the media.
Kohli said that people who are not part of the Indian dressing room should not “sit at a distance and speculate, and give judgments” on what’s happening. He added that the team was completely focused on the Champions Trophy and their preparations had not been affected by the rumours.
“There has been a lot of speculation and a lot of things have been written by people without being a part of the change room, which is very strange,” Kohli said in his pre-match press conference. “There are no problems whatsoever [with Kumble].” Asked how his relationship with Kumble has been over the last year, he said, “It’s been really good. The whole journey has been good.”
Kohli reiterated his previous comments about the selection process of the new coach, saying that a standard procedure is being followed. Kumble was picked as India’s head coach last June on a one-year contract, which will end later this month. The Board of Control for Cricket in India, last week, invited applications for the post of head coach despite Kumble’s stellar record. Under Kumble, India won 10 and lost only one out of 13 Test matches in their last home season.
“As I mentioned before, if something is put in place as a process, I don’t see why people are creating so much speculation about it,” Kohli said. “It was followed last time as well and I did not see any issues being created then. It’s the same process, it’s just happening after 12 months, and there are no issues whatsoever.”
The 28-year-old added that he was not bothered about what is being reported in the media. “I honestly don’t even know [what is being reported],” he said. “People who even try to tell me about it, I don’t even want to know about anything of this sort.”
He added, “In a tournament that is in focus so much, and it is on such a big stage, a lot of people like to find rumours flying around, especially before the start of the tournament. So, yeah, they are doing their job and trying to create a nice livelihood [for themselves] and that’s all we can say. We are focused on our livelihood which is on the field and it’s all we are going to focus on.”