Indian captain Rohit Sharma has put his weight behind under-fire Virat Kohli. The former Indian skipper isn’t in the best of forms in the recent past and many experts like former Indian World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev reckons Kohli should be dropped from the T20I team as the young players are grabbing their opportunities in the team.
Rohit Sharma said that they don’t care about the outside noise and they will back the quality of the player. Sharma added that Kohli has been a consistent performer for the Indian team in the last decade and the form of a player can vary through such a long career.
Kohli scored a solitary run in the second T20I against England and then returned with a score of 11 runs. In fact, it is known that Kohli likes to take his time at the start of the innings in the T20I match but he was looking to play big shots in both of these two matches.
As India has adopted an aggressive batting approach, Kohli was also looking to play in a similar fashion but he could not deliver the goods.
“It’s not difficult at all for us because we don’t listen to outside noise. Also, I don’t know who these experts are and why they’re called experts. I don’t get that,” Rohit said.
“They are seeing from outside, they don’t know what’s happening inside the team. We have a thought process, we make the team, we debate and discuss it and think a lot about it. The players [we pick] are backed, they are given opportunities. People on the outside don’t know about it. So it’s more important about what’s happening within our team, that’s important for me.
“Also, if you are talking about form, it goes up and down for everyone. The quality of the player doesn’t go bad. We should always keep in mind when such comments are passed around. We’re backing that quality. It’s happened with me, it’s happened with XYZ. There’s nothing new. When a player has done well so consistently, then 1-2 bad series, it [his contribution] shouldn’t be forgotten. It might take time for some to understand. But for us, inside and running the team, we know the importance. I’ll request those on the outside, yes you have all the right to talk about it, but for us, it doesn’t matter a lot.”
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has a terrific record in the T20I format as he has scored 3308 runs in 99 T20I matches at an average of 50.12 and an impressive strike rate of 137.66. Kohli is going through a bit of a slump but there is no doubt that he will find a way to bounce back stronger.
Kohli has been a consistent performer in the white-ball format and he will look to get back into form in the ODI series. The first ODI between India and England will be played on Tuesday.
