“We have a fantastic dressing room, and there have been no issues”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has rubbished reports that opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli were involved in a verbal spat on the fourth day of the second Test against Australia in Brisbane.
The alleged incident, which took place in the dressing room, kicked off when Kohli blamed Dhawan of being scared to face the Australian pace attack.
Kohli’s finger-pointing came after both he and Dhawan were hit while batting in the practice nets prior to the start of day four. However, since Dhawan’s injury was a little more serious, Kohli was allegedly given five minutes’ notice before he had to walk out to the crease.
“That kind of a scenario, there is a bit of unrest in the dressing room,” Dhoni had said in the press conference after the second Test. “The calmness of the dressing room goes for a toss. It was a bit late to verbally resolve the problem.”
Reports also emerged that Dhawan and Kohli came so close to trading blows that team director Ravi Shastri had to separate the duo.
However, Dhoni made it clear that almost everything reported about the incident had been pure nonsense.
“Yeah, actually that was the case,” Dhoni joked. “Virat used a knife and he stabbed Shikhar. When he recovered out of that we pushed him out to bat.
“These are all stories. Marvel and Warner bros should pick them up and make a movie out of it. I don’t know where it comes from. If someone from the team has actually told you this, it will be interesting if you give us the name of the individual who said this. This is what has happened because his imagination is really brilliant, and he should be working for Warner Bros or another movie company. And he doesn’t deserve to be in our dressing room because he has created something that hasn’t been there at all. Stuff like that makes good stories for the tabloid, and maybe it helps them sell it. As far as reality is concerned, there is nothing like that.”
But, it seems that everyone has moved on from the alleged incident as Dhawan and Kohli were seen walking towards the nets together and sharing jokes on the eve of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
“We have a fantastic dressing room, and there have been no issues,” Dhoni said. “It goes in the media whenever the team travels and we face difficult situations. Some of the journalists start making their own story up and start putting it forward.”