Rohit Sharma is rightly regarded as one of the finest batsmen of the modern generation along with Virat Kohli. The duo were once thick of friends but lately, they don’t seem to be getting along too well. Their rift has been widely reported on social media. Apart from Rohit Sharma’s tiff with Kohli, the “hit-man” has often found himself at the center of unwanted attention which has resulted in him being drawn into needless controversies.
Stumpsandbails brings to 5 instances when Rohit Sharma created an unnecessary controversy.
#5 Rohit Sharma’s speculated bio-bubble breach
Rohit Sharma, who was nursing a hamstring injury, was welcomed into India’s Test Squad for the 3rd and 4th Test against Australia after he put in the hard yards at the NCA for rehabilitation. Sharma was serving quarantine in Sydney before he joined the team. Sharma’s net sessions, after joining the “Men in Blue”, went viral as he was timing the ball beautifully. Sharma was even appointed as the vice-captain of the Test Team. But out of nowhere, he was caught in the bio-bubble breach scandal. He along with fellow players Rishabh Pant, Navdeep Saini, Prithvi Shaw, and Shubman Gill have been reported to have broken the biosecurity protocols.
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This incident happened at a local Australian restaurant when a fan named Navaldeep Singh spotted the cricketers and paid their bill as well. He later posted a video of players enjoying the meal and also went on to tweet about the whole incident. The investigation has started on this matter by both Cricket Australia (CA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). If proven guilty, Sharma along with other players will be severely penalised.
#4 Liking a post terming KL Rahul overrated
Post the 2019 ODI World Cup, India toured West Indies where Rohit Sharma excelled with the bat in the T20I matches scoring 67 in one of the games. Virat Kohli decided to rest Sharma in the third game and played KL Rahul instead. While Sharma scored a fluent 68 in the warm-up match, Kohli went ahead with KL Rahul as opener who had scored just 36 in that match. But unfortunately, Rahul failed in both the Tests and this did not go down well with Sharma. When a fan on social media posted stuff saying KL Rahul is overrated, Sharma ended up liking the post and this sparked another controversy.
#3 Rohit Sharma liked a tweet posted against Anushka Sharma
Anushka Sharma is not involved with Indian cricket but she always gets the stick whenever the Indian team performs badly or when Virat Kohli fails. During India’s tour of England in 2018, Anushka Sharma was again involved in a controversy. The incident which sparked the debate was when the Indian team, along with the support staff, visited the High Commissioner of India in London. To everyone’s surprise, Virat Kohli’s wife Anushka also tagged along and was seen with the team. Seeing her stand in the first row along with her husband and Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane standing behind didn’t go down well with many. Fans lashed out at this and a few also claimed that this was a ‘team visit’ and not a ‘family visit’.
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To make matters worse, Rohit Sharma, who wasn’t a part of the squad for that tour, liked a mystic tweet. The tweet said, “@ImRo45 void is filled up by @AnushkaSharma ???? I believe WAG’s are not allowed till 3rd test. Different rules for different players!
Rohit Sharma wasn’t finished there, he liked another tweet which read: “Rohit Sharma averages 58.19, batting at no 6 in tests. That is more than any batsman playing currently in the world”.
#2 Rohit Sharma’s fight with Virat Kohli
During the 2019 ODI World Cup, there were rumours that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have had a big showdown. The duo post which were not on talking terms with each other. But Virat Kohli rubbished all the claims in a press conference before heading to the tour of West Indies saying there is no truth to the matter. He was appalled by how people have turned a blind eye towards whatever good that has happened. But Rohit Sharma shared a startling tweet which read, “I don’t just walk out for my Team. I walk out for my country.” This puzzled many cricketing fans.
#1 Unfollowing Anushka Sharma on Instagram
Rohit Sharma had unfollowed Virat Kohli on Instagram quite a while back. The star batsman later went on to unfollow Kohli’s wife, Anushka Sharma too. This activity generated a lot of buzz and triggered another controversy. Anushka Sharma later shared a post saying, “A wise man once said nothing. Only truth can shake hands with silence in a mess of false appearances…” in response to Rohit Sharma unfollowing her.