Rohit backs Kohli: ‘Kapil Dev doesn’t know what goes behind the scenes’

India captain Rohit Sharma has thrown his weight behind the struggling star batsman Virat Kohli and said he doesn’t care about experts’ views on the former skipper’s lack of runs.

After India lost the third T20I against England on Sunday (July 10) in Nottingham, Rohit replied to legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev’s comments on Kohli.

Also read: If Ashwin can be axed, then Kohli can be dropped, says Kapil Dev

The 33-year-old Kohli failed again on Sunday scoring just 11 runs from six balls as India faltered in the run chase of 216. Despite Suryakumar Yadav’s brilliant 55-ball 117, India could not cross the line as it lost by 17 runs but sealed the three-match series 2-1.

Kapil’s comments

Recently, Kapil had said if Ravichandran Ashwin could be dropped from Tests, even Kohli could be benched over his poor form as youngsters were doing well.

“Yes, now the situation is such that you might be forced to bench Kohli from T20 playing eleven. If world No. 2 bowler Ashwin can be dropped from Test side then your No. 1 batter can also be dropped,” Kapil told ABP News.

“I hope Kohli scores runs. And if there’s a (selection) challenge after that, it’s a big one. At the moment, Virat Kohli isn’t playing like the Kohli we know, the one that has made him a legend through his performances. If he isn’t performing, you can’t continue to keep these boys (youngsters) out. I hope there’s a healthy fight for selection, the youngsters should look to outperform Kohli. But Kohli needs to think, ‘yes at one point I was a big player, but I need to play like that No. 1 player again’. That’s a problem for the team, it’s not a bad problem,” the 1983 World Cup-winning captain added.

Also read: Interview I ‘Seven captains in seven months’: What BCCI chief Ganguly says

Rohit talks of ‘quality’

Reacting to Kapil’s comments on Kohli, Rohit said, “Kapil Dev doesn’t know what goes behind the scenes, we have a thought process, we make the team and there’s a good discussion behind that. We give a run to the players, we back them. Whatever goes outside doesn’t matter to us, what is going inside does.”

“I don’t know who are the experts who comment on a player’s spot. We back player seeing their quality, if someone has been great for a decade we can’t just see what has happened over last few years,” he added.

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Rohit said the form of players keeps changing but the quality remains the same. “Form is something which goes up and down, but the quality of the player remains the same. We should keep this in mind before making comments on other players, we know the importance of each player.”

A gritty performance from #TeamIndia but England win the third #ENGvIND T20I.

India win the T20I series 2️⃣-1️⃣. 👍 👍

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/BEVTo52gzO pic.twitter.com/IVg72dACbu

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 10, 2022