There was a time when former India skipper Virat Kohli used to back his players during their lean patch. However, tables have turned now, Virat Kohli is going through a tough phase of his cricketing career and this time, Rohit Sharma, the new white-ball captain of India is following in former captain’s footsteps.
Sharma, who was asked about Kohli’s form in a press conference ahead of the T20I series, backed Kohli to rediscover his form and said everything will be alright if a hype is not created around Kohli’s form.
Ever since he stepped down as the skipper of India’s Test team, Virat Kohli hasn’t been in the best of form. He concluded the recent ODI series against West Indies with just 26 runs, including a second-ball duck in the third ODI.
India’s white-ball captain further backed Kohli and said he is the kind of player who knows how to handle pressure.
“If you guys can keep quiet for a while, I think he’ll be alright. He is in a great mental space. He has been a part of this team for more than a decade. Such a player knows how to handle environment and pressure. If you guys can keep it quiet for a bit, everything will fall in place,” Sharma said in a press conference ahead of the T20I series against West Indies.
“The Door Is Open For Everyone” – Rohit Sharma
Talking about Hardik Pandya, who is not a part of the squad for the West Indies series, Rohit said that he is an important player as he offers three skills to the teams but about him being playing as a pure batter hasn’t been discussed yet.
“Hardik Pandya is an important player, he brings three skills to the table. We have not had a discussion on whether he can play as a pure batter or not. It is about everyone being available. Since the T20 World Cup, we have had injuries. The important thing is to get everyone available, once they are available, we will look at the second step.”
“The door is open for everyone, we do not make decisions quickly, we want to go with the right combination because, in Australia, you will get different conditions. You will require different skill sets there, we want to prepare accordingly and we want to cover all the bases,” he added.
Talking about the upcoming T20I series against West Indies, both the teams have already reached Kolkata from Ahmedabad where India had blanked the visitors 3-0 in the ODI series. The teams have held their first practice sessions at the Eden Garden ahead of the three-match T20I series.
India’s T20I Squad:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain) (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav.