JOIN USOn KL Rahul's form, Captain Kohli has a song to sing
KL Rahul is enduring a difficult phase with the bat when it comes to T20Is. In the first four international T20 matches that he played in the series against England, he scored 1, 0, 0, and 14. He was dropped from the playing eleven for the fifth and final T20I that India won by 36 runs to clinch a hard-fought series 3-2.
It is a bewildering form for a batsman who has a T20I average of just a shade under 40 (39.9) and a strike rate of 142.19. Virat Kohli knows the pedigree Rahul possesses, and that is why he stoutly defended the batsman and elaborated on how the team deals with struggling players.
"I can only think about one thing when people talk about a player is out of form, kuch toh log kahenge logon ka kaam hain kehna, chodo bekaar ki baaton mein kahi beet na jaaye raina (quoting a Hindi song)", Kohli was quoted by PTI as saying in the virtual press conference on the eve of the first ODI between India and England on Tuesday.
"There is a lot of impatience outside the cricket set-up. People love listening to criticism and it has only increased," he added.
He further elaborated by saying that the team management knows how to manage a player dealing with a poor run of form. "In the team, we know how to manage a player going though a tough patch. It is not as if you forget playing the game, it is just that you don't have the same mental clarity that you would usually have and then there is talk about you, which is another external factor you have to deal with," he explained.
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He concluded by saying, "We will continue to back our players and keep them in good mental space."
About his move to open the innings, Kohli said that he had decided to open in the shortest format to accommodate players like Surya Kumar Yadav in the side but there was no "guarantee" of him taking up the role in the T20 World Cup at home later this year.
"Firstly, the combination that plays on the field, selectors don't have any role to play in that, just how the team management doesn't have any role in the selection. Secondly, as Rohit mentioned, it was a strategic move but yes we did enjoy batting with each other, we did enjoy that partnership and we saw the effects of us batting together. It's not a guarantee that this is going to be continued in future," he said.
(With agency inputs)