India captain Rohit Sharma appears exhausted and bemused by the continous discussions over Virat Kohli’s prolonged struggle saying a batter of his calibre doesn’t need any assurance and the phase is part and parcel of any cricketer’s career.
After missing the first ODI against England due to a niggle, Kohli was back in India’s playing XI for the second match on Thursday but was out after scoring 16 off 25 leading to even more talks of his slump. The brief stay was solid as has been the case on several occassions before but the failure to conver the start into a big score continues to plague the top-order batter.
“Kyun ho rahi hain, yaar. Matlab mujhe samajh mein nahin aata, bhai. (Why is this discussion happening? I can’t understand this),” Rohit responded to a journalist’s query on the talks around Kohli’s form after India’s 100-run defeat in the 2nd ODI.
The India captain then went on to reiterate what he said in his previous media interaction, saying Kohli needs just one or two innings to bounce back.
“He (Kohli) has played so many matches, for so many years. He is such a great batter so he does not need reassurance. I said this in my previous press conference too. Form will never be the same, that is part and parcel of any cricketer’s career. So, a player like him, who has played for so many years, scored so many runs and has won so many matches, for him, he only needs one or two good innings. That is my thinking and I am sure all those who follow cricket will think similarly,” Rohit said on Thursday.
Rohit said Kohli isn’t the only batter to go through such a phase.
“We do have chats about about this topic, but we should also understand and think when we talk about such things. We have seen performance of all players goes up and down, but the quality of the player never gets worse. That we all should keep in mind. That is very important. Yaar, matlab, bande ne itne run banaya hain (the guy has scored so many runs), check his average, how many hundreds he has made, he has experience of doing that. There hasn’t been a player who has done well in every match. There is a slump in every player’s life. Even in the personal life it comes,” he said.
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