Rohit Sharma did not mince any words when defending Virat Kohli’s continued lean run with the bat after India’s lost the third T20I against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Sunday. India did, however, win the series 2-1 and despite the defeat, India had a lot of positives to take away from Sunday’s match – namely Suryakumar Yadav’s stellar century, which eventually went in vain.
But the focus was largely on Kohli, who for the second time in the series got out early, facing just six deliveries for 11 runs, after India had lost Rishabh Pant early for 1. In the England tour so far, Kohli has batted four times and has managed a high score of just 20 that came in the second innings of the Birmingham Test. In the 2nd T20I, he had made just one.
Rohit Sharma opens up about Virat Kohli’s continuous failure with the bat.@ImRo45 @imVkohli #ViratKohli #RohitSharma #ENGvIND
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Kohli’s struggles have prompted quite a few former cricketers to question his place in the T20I squad with the likes of Kapil Dev, Ajay Jadeja, and Venkatesh Prasad opining that it is time India look past Kohli in the T20I format.
However, Sharma, the recently minted all-format India skipper shot back at Kohli’s critics during the post-match presser.
“It’s not difficult at all for us (Kohli’s place in the XI) 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,” said Sharma, adding, “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.”
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Kohli’s approach in the two T20I he played has been very clear – go after the bowling from the start itself, whatever the situation may be is a clear change in approach from the former skipper and Sharma revealed it is a fresh approach that the team is taking and admitted that some days it will pay off, and some days it won’t.
“We, as a team, want to play in a certain way and every player needs to buy into that thought process otherwise, you know, it’s not gonna happen for you.
“And all the batters who are part of this squad are willing to take that extra risk and go and see what extra they can do with the bat. You know, it’s important to find out within yourself, to try and do different kinds of things and unless you try it you will never be able to find out. So I think it is something that we’ve been trying to do for a while now.
Even though the question mark may be on Kohli due to lack of runs, Team India has reaped the rewards of this new style of batting and will walk away the happier team sealing the series 2-1 vs a formidable England unit.
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