India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has come out in defence of out-of-form captain Rohit Sharma by assuring that there is no "problem" and "concern" around his dry spell with the bat.
Rohit, a modern-day icon in the white-ball cricket, has lost his charm and purple patch across all formats. After bringing the curtain down on his T20I career on a memorable note, the seasoned opener's bat has resorted to silence.
After a forgettable outing in Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit returned to lead India in the ODIs against England. In the series opener, there were high anticipations in the fan base of witnessing a classic knock from Rohit.
But to everyone's disappointment, in a space of six deliveries, Saqib Mahmood had Rohit caught on mid-on for 2(7) before the fireworks could even begin.
Ahead of the second ODI in Cuttack, the Indian batting coach downplayed Rohit's recent run by citing his previous fruitful outings in the format. "See, I personally don't think there is any problem. I mean the last three one-dayers.
Rohit has played, he has scored 56, 64 and 35, so nearly averaging 50 plus in those last three one-dayers. I mean, we are talking about a player, like a guy who has got 31 one-day international 100s, and when they are back-to-back matches, when they keep scoring runs, nobody asks, when will he fail," he said in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the second ODI on Sunday.
"So I think when sometimes somebody gets out or has a little bit of lean pitch, I don't think I would be worried, or I would be thinking about their form," he added.
The debate around Rohit's performance sparked after his shambolic display in Tests in Australia. In five innings during the series, Rohit had only 31 runs to show at an abysmal average of 6.20. Sitanshu acknowledged Rohit's appalling display in Australia but believes the Indian skipper will find his rhythm, considering his past outings in the format.
"Yes, the Australia Test match, if you are saying, yes, that was a tough time, and the guys get out, that's fine, but about the one-dayers, the way he batted in the last three one-dayers before the first match, he has always been scoring runs, so not really so much concern about that," he said.
