Kirti Azad Reacts To Mohammed Azharuddin's Tweet On Virat Kohli
Azad's comments come after former India skipper Mohammed Azharuddin on Tuesday tweeted that Kohli has "informed that he's not available for the ODI series" in South Africa.
Former India cricketer Kirti Azad on Tuesday said that if Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are not playing together, then the team will suffer. Rohit Sharma will miss the upcoming Test series against South Africa due to a hamstring injury and Virat Kohli's participation in the ODI series also remains unclear. Last week, Rohit was handed the reins of ODI and T20I formats. "If Rohit and Virat are not playing together then the team will suffer later, they will themselves suffer first. One player will replace another. No one is indispensable. Many greats have come and gone. Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly. So, they will suffer first if they do not play in each other's captaincy," Azad told ANI.
"Rohit being unwell and Kohli not available for the ODIs, two of your best players not being available for either of your series is really serious for India. They have been the mainstays of Indian batting and the board must find out where the problem is, if at all there is any, rather than its member tweeting that there might be a rift in the side. It is not good for the morale of the side and South Africa is a good team especially when you are playing on good hard tracks. It's altogether different from playing in any part of the world. The wickets are different," he added.
Azad's comments come after former India skipper Mohammed Azharuddin on Tuesday tweeted that Kohli has "informed that he's not available for the ODI series" in South Africa. "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 takin a break but d timing has to be better. This just substantiates speculation abt d rift. Neither will be giving up d other form of cricket," he wrote in his tweet.
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 takin a break but d timing has to be better. This just substantiates speculation abt d rift. Neither wil be giving up d other form of cricket.
— Mohammed Azharuddin (@azharflicks) December 14, 2021
Azad said he was surprised by Azharuddin's tweet since the former India captain is part of the BCCI by virtue of being the president of Hyderabad Cricket Association.
"I am really very surprised by Azhar who is a great player and former India captain and who is also a part of the BCCI. He is the President of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. So, is he saying what the BCCI is saying because once he says anything or tweets anything on social media, it is taken as a part of an Association or part of BCCI," said Azad.
"This may lead to a lot of problems within the BCCI and it might just be nothing. So, these are irrelevant kind of statements without any substance to them. I will call them only speculations," he added.
India Cricket Team
Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli