NOTTINGHAM: Following the continuation of Virat Kohli’s disappointing run of form in the final T20I against England, India skipper Rohit Sharma disagreed with former skipper Kapil Dev’s comments about the star batter’s place in the team, saying that he is watching the game from the outside and does not know what is happening inside.
Virat Kohli’s run of low scores continued on Sunday as he was dismissed for 11 in the second T20I, thus managing only 12 runs in his two innings.
“He (Kapil) is watching the game from outside and does not know what is happening inside. We have our thought process. We build our team, and behind this there is a lot of thinking. We back the boys and give them opportunities. So these things you do not get to know from outside. So whatever is happening outside is not important, but what is happening inside is more important for us,” said the skipper during the post-match press conference, referring to Kapil’s statement on Kohli.
“If you talk about form, then everyone goes through ups and downs. The player’s quality does not get affected. So we should keep these things in our minds.
“When a player is doing well for so many years, then one or two bad series does not make him a bad player. We should not overlook his past performances. We, who are in the team, know the importance of the player. They (former players) have got all the right to talk about it, but it does not matter for us too much,” he added.
Kapil had said that if a bowler of spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s calibre could be left out of the Test side, so could Virat Kohli from T20Is. Ashwin did not feature in a single match in the five-match Test series against England, four matches of which were played in 2021 before the rescheduled fifth Test earlier this month.
“If world No. 2 Test bowler Ashwin can be dropped from the Test side, then your No. 1 batter can also be dropped,” Kapil had state.
“If he (Virat) is not performing, you cannot continue to keep these boys (youngsters like Deepak Hooda) out. I hope there is a healthy fight for selection. The youngsters should look to outperform Kohli. But Kohli needs to think that ‘Yes, at one point I was a big player, but I need to play like that No. 1 player again’. That is a problem for the team, it is not a bad problem,” Kapil added.
India lost the inconsequential final T20I by 17 runs on Sunday despite Suryakumar Yadav’s explosive 117. However, by virtue of winning the first two T20Is, the visitors won the series 2-1.
Rohit termed it as one of the best T20I innings he had ever seen.
“When you are chasing a big total, come out and bat like he (Suryakumar) did. (It) shows the quality of the batter. We were three down and wanted that partnership to go as long as possible. He pretty much did everything right today. Disappointed that he was not there till the end, but it takes nothing away from his knock.
“You do not get to see that too often. We will take that with both hands as a team. He has shots all over the ground. It is a very rare quality that a batter can have. It is a good sign for us to have a player like that in the squad,” he added.
Virat Kohli’s run of low scores continued on Sunday as he was dismissed for 11 in the second T20I, thus managing only 12 runs in his two innings.
“He (Kapil) is watching the game from outside and does not know what is happening inside. We have our thought process. We build our team, and behind this there is a lot of thinking. We back the boys and give them opportunities. So these things you do not get to know from outside. So whatever is happening outside is not important, but what is happening inside is more important for us,” said the skipper during the post-match press conference, referring to Kapil’s statement on Kohli.
“If you talk about form, then everyone goes through ups and downs. The player’s quality does not get affected. So we should keep these things in our minds.
“When a player is doing well for so many years, then one or two bad series does not make him a bad player. We should not overlook his past performances. We, who are in the team, know the importance of the player. They (former players) have got all the right to talk about it, but it does not matter for us too much,” he added.
Kapil had said that if a bowler of spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s calibre could be left out of the Test side, so could Virat Kohli from T20Is. Ashwin did not feature in a single match in the five-match Test series against England, four matches of which were played in 2021 before the rescheduled fifth Test earlier this month.
“If world No. 2 Test bowler Ashwin can be dropped from the Test side, then your No. 1 batter can also be dropped,” Kapil had state.
“If he (Virat) is not performing, you cannot continue to keep these boys (youngsters like Deepak Hooda) out. I hope there is a healthy fight for selection. The youngsters should look to outperform Kohli. But Kohli needs to think that ‘Yes, at one point I was a big player, but I need to play like that No. 1 player again’. That is a problem for the team, it is not a bad problem,” Kapil added.
India lost the inconsequential final T20I by 17 runs on Sunday despite Suryakumar Yadav’s explosive 117. However, by virtue of winning the first two T20Is, the visitors won the series 2-1.
Rohit termed it as one of the best T20I innings he had ever seen.
“When you are chasing a big total, come out and bat like he (Suryakumar) did. (It) shows the quality of the batter. We were three down and wanted that partnership to go as long as possible. He pretty much did everything right today. Disappointed that he was not there till the end, but it takes nothing away from his knock.
“You do not get to see that too often. We will take that with both hands as a team. He has shots all over the ground. It is a very rare quality that a batter can have. It is a good sign for us to have a player like that in the squad,” he added.
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