"You definitely think about it while sitting in the hotel or the dressing room" - Rajkumar Sharma on Virat Kohli's competition with Joe Root
Virat Kohli's coach Rajkumar Sharma has pointed out that his ward will only be thinking about his rivalry with Joe Root off the field of play and not while he is batting in the middle.
Kohli and Root, alongside Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, are regarded as the 'Fab Four' of the modern era. While Root has been on a run-scoring spree of late, Kohli has endured a prolonged lean patch with the bat.
During an interaction on India News, Rajkumar Sharma was asked about the healthy rivalry between Kohli and Root. He responded:
"Both are fantastic players. A healthy rivalry is always there at the back of the mind, that he has come close to you or has gone ahead of you, or you are close to the other person's record. You definitely think about it while sitting in the hotel or the dressing room."
The former first-class cricketer highlighted that such thoughts are not on your mind when you are on the pitch. Sharma said:
"You forget this rivalry when you go across the boundary line, then you only wait for the next ball and you have to see how to score your runs. You don't get Joe Root or anyone else in your mind."
🏴
Joe Root has scored more runs than Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson combined since 2021 🤯🏏
Unreal! 🙌🏴
#JoeRoot #englandcricket https://t.co/ead7jhjOv7
Root recently crossed the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket and is more than 2,000 runs ahead of Virat Kohli on that count. The former England skipper also equaled the Indian batting mainstay's tally of 27 Test centuries with his 176-run knock in the second Test against New Zealand.
"It is required for Virat Kohli to play his natural game and make a big score" - Rajkumar Sharma
Rajkumar Sharma added that Virat Kohli's focus should currently be on getting back to his best. He observed:
"But currently it is required for Virat to play his natural game and make a big score, which he is searching for for a long time. I have full hope that he will do that soon because it has been a long time."
The 57-year-old concluded by pointing out that the Indian run-machine has failed to convert his starts into substantial knocks in recent times. Sharma elaborated:
"It has not been seen often in Virat's entire career that he has such a long lean patch, in terms of triple figures, he has definitely scored runs otherwise, but his conversion rate was exceptional earlier, once he used to reach 30-35 runs, everyone used to believe that he will score big, a hundred will definitely be scored but lately that has not happened."
Test batting average since the start of 2020:
Trent Boult - 34.75
Virat Kohli - 28.03
#ENGvNZ
Virat Kohli has aggregated 841 runs at a lowly average of 28.03 in the 17 Tests he has played since the beginning of 2020. He has breached the half-century mark on six occasions in this period but has failed to post a three-digit score.