Why focus on Virat Kohli when Rohit Sharma has had an equally bad IPL?

When it boils down to performances in the 2022 TATA Indian Premier League (IPL), the two big guns of Indian cricket — Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma — would want to keep their score card under wraps.

The former captain and the current one have had forgettable outings in the league stage of the IPL which was played across Maharashtra this season.

Although the focus had entirely been on Virat, Rohit, who is expected to lead the side at the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, was quite far away from the spotlight.

If Virat scored 251 runs in 13 league matches, Rohit could amass paltry 262 runs in similar number of games.

Rohit’s average of 20.15 is slightly better than that of Virat at 19.30.

Virat, however, has three golden ducks to his account, while Rohit has just one. On the other hand, Virat managed one 50 plus score, while Rohit had none.

Then Virat has been in the spotlight and Rohit managed to escape that. Perhaps, it’s expectation and aggression.

Besides being India’s run machine for quite a while now, Virat also carries his animated passion and aggression on his sleeve and that’s what puts him in the spotlight. Secondly, Virat’s wanting form has also led to eyes being on him during the IPL.

As for Rohit, having taken out the captaincy just recently, people looked at him as someone who should be given time. With Mumbai Indians losing eight matches on the trot, the focus was on the entire team and not on Rohit. Especially, a team that has won five IPL titles.

For now, both Virat and Rohit have been rested for T20Is against South Africa which is scheduled to begin on June 9.