'Leave Virat alone' as Rohit dismisses concerns around Kohli's poor form

IN no mood to talk about the prolonged lean patch that Virat Kohli is enduring, India captain Rohit Sharma on Tuesday (15) said "everything will fall in place" if the chatter around him stops.

Ahead of the T20 series against the West Indies starting Wednesday (16), media queries were once again focussed on Kohli's batting form and Rohit wasn't pleased.

"I think it starts from you guys," Rohit was curt in his first response.

"If you guys (media) can keep quiet for a while, everything will be alright. If talking from your side stops, everything will be taken care of," he added, in support of his predecessor.

Rohit said Kohli is not under any pressure and will come good soon.

"He is in a very good space and he has been part of international team for more than a decade. He has spent so much time in international cricket that he knows how to handle pressure situations," Rohit said, not amused at repeated queries on Kohli's form.

"So I think everything starts from you guys. If you guys can keep it quiet for a bit everything will fall in place," he added.

Kohli has not scored a hundred for more than two years in international cricket. In ODIs, it has been three years since his last century. He has 44 hundreds in the format overall.

But Kohli has scored a lot of half-centuries which is an indication that he is not exactly in wretched form.

On Tuesday, it was apparent that Rohit isn't pleased about Kohli being singled out for scrutiny at every media interaction.

After the last game in the ODI series, Rohit was more playful when asked if Kohli needs a bit of confidence.

"Virat Kohli ko confidence ki zaroorat hai. Kya baat kar rahe ho yaar (Virat Kohli lacks confidence? What are you saying?)," he had said in jest.

But on Tuesday, he looked dead serious.

(PTI)