At a time when the likes of Kapil Dev and Venkatesh Prasad are questioning Virat Kohli’s place in the Indian team following his string of low scores, captain Rohit Sharma minced no words in defending his former skipper after India lost the third T20 against England at Trent Bridge on Sunday.
Despite, Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering maiden T20 century against England on Sunday, India lost the game by 17 runs. However, India won the series 2-1 courtesy their wins in Southampton and Birmingham.
It was also India’s first defeat for India in 20 matches under Rohit Sharma across formats. While there were a lot of positives to talk about in India’s T20 series win, but the focus was on Virat Kohli, who once again failed to score big.
In England tour so far, Kohli’s scores read 11 and 20 (fifth Test vs ENG), 1 (1st T20) and 11 (2nd T20). Kohli’s lean patch prompted the former cricketers to say that the team management should look beyond Kohli and play in-form batters, especially Deepak Hooda.
Rohit took a dig at the former cricketers asking ‘why they are called experts’ saying they don’t need to pay heed to the outside noise. “It’s not difficult at all for us (Kohli’s place in the XI) because we don’t listen to outside noise,” Rohit said during the post-match press conference.
“Also, I don’t know who these experts are and why they’re called experts. I don’t get that. 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,” added the Indian opener.
Known for backing the players in the team, Rohit’s only concern is what is happening inside the team. “The players (we pick) are backed, they are given opportunities. People on the outside don’t know about it. It’s more important about what’s happening within our team, that’s important for me,” he added.
