Virat Kohli recites lines from Hindi song: The Indian captain appeared to be unperturbed around unnecessary criticism of the Indian team.
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India captain Virat Kohli has confirmed their opening combination ahead of the first ODI against England stating that the hosts will stick to the tried and tested pair in the 50-over format.
“As far as the opening combination is concerned, Shikhar [Dhawan] and Rohit [Sharma] will definitely start. They have been amazing for us in the past few years,” Kohli told reporters during the pre-series press conference.
Dhawan, who played in a lone T20I against England in Ahmedabad, had missed the next four matches as India tried several opening pairs in the five-match series. Despite his diminishing T20I strike rate, Dhawan continues to be India’s go-to man in the ODI format.
Virat Kohli recites lines from Hindi song to hit back at critics
Being asked about the increasing criticism of players going through respective rough patches, Kohli recited an evergreen Hindi song from Shakti Samanta’s ‘Amar Prem’ (1972). The Indian skipper further laid emphasis on keeping his teammates in “good mental space” irrespective of how they perform on the ground.
“A song which comes to my mind around form and out of form is ‘Kuch toh log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna’ [People will say something as it is their job to do so]. I feel people have their opinions about what a particular player might be thinking. Then it becomes a judgement as people start pulling down anyone who is going through a rough patch,” Kohli said.
Coming on the back of a 3-2 T20I series victory on Saturday, India will now play a three-match ODI series in Pune to culminate an all-format series against England.
