Virat Kohli To Be Excluded From T20I Side Due To Form? Captain Rohit Sharma Answers; Watch Video
Forget about a team's performance, it's almost as if all the eyes are focused on an individual's performance, prioritizing it more than the match result. Virat Kohli has been at the centre of criticism and uncertainty after a dip in form. This is now taking a toll on his T20I career as various 'experts' have called for the exclusion of the former captain to give place to younger and deserving players.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma opened up on his former captain's (Virat Kohli) place in the team. At the post-match conference after the 3rd & final T20I against England, Rohit Sharma gave his 2 cents on whether Virat Kohli deserves to be in the playing XI or not.
The journalist asked the Indian skipper, 'With all the questions about Virat Kohli being raised by 'experts' and people due to his form, how do you as a captain cope with this issue of playing the Virat Kohli in place of in-form youngsters?'
Rohit Sharma answered in his usual carefree way, starting with 'Who are these experts? Whoever, they are, they aren't in this team. They have a different mindset and thinking than ours' (about Virat Kohli's place in the team).
'It isn't difficult for us (on Kohli's selection) inside the team.' Rohit Sharma went on to say that players are backed and supported in the Indian team and they cannot be excluded from the team based on a bad patch in form for 2 or 3 series.
'Every cricketer goes through bad form. One should keep in mind before criticizing that the quality of the player always remains the same. The dip in form has happened with me, happened with everyone else, doesn't mean the player will be excluded based on bad form.'
Also Read: Scorecard
Virat Kohli joined the Indian team for the 2nd and 3rd T20I against England, where he scored 1 and 11 runs respectively. While talking about the series, India won the T20I series 2-1 after a 50 and 49-run win in the 1st and 2nd T20I. England avoided the clean sweep as they sneaked in a 17-run win in the 3rd T20I despite a glorious ton by Suryakumar Yadav. India will now face off against current world champions England in a 3-match ODI series, commencing from July 12th at Kennington Oval, London.