Team India captain Rohit Sharma has opened up on his teammate and former skipper Virat Kohli’s bad patch with the willow. Kohli is having a nightmarish run across the formats as he has been so far unable to find his mojo.
Notably, in the third and final T20I against England at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Sunday, Kohli, just like in the second game, stepped out to bat with an aggressive mindset. He looked in good touch as he smashed David Willey over mid-wicket for four and straight back over his head for a six.
It appeared that the Delhi-lad would take charge in India’s massive chase of 216 and return to his form. However, when Kohli once again danced down the track to play an attacking shot, he was caught at cover for a 6-ball 11.
India did get close to the win thanks to a stunning century by Suryakumar Yadav, but his dismissal for 117 ended the visitors’ hopes as the touring party lost the contest by 17 runs only. After the game, captain Rohit was asked to share his thoughts on Kohli, who has been struggling to score runs for quite some time now.
Rohit came to defend his teammate and reckoned that they don’t listen to outside noise and so-called experts who know nothing about the game. The Mumbaikar asserted that the team management backs players irrespective off their form.
“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. They are seeing from outside, they don’t know what’s happening inside the team. We have a thought process, make the team, 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,” said Rohit in a video shared by RevSportz on Twitter.
Speaking about Kohli’s form, Rohit mentioned that it goes up and down for everyone, and a bad form doesn’t mean the management can ignore the quality of a player. Rohit felt people have all the right to make comments, but it’s always up to them (management) who they pick and back in the team.
“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,” added the Indian skipper.
