"Does Virat Kohli need confidence? What are you talking about?" - Rohit Sharma says India "not at all worried" about former captain's form

Indian white-ball captain Rohit Sharma has declared that the team management is "not at all worried" about Virat Kohli's batting form. Defending the former skipper's century drought, Rohit pointed to Kohli's twin half-centuries in South Africa last month, saying he doesn't need any confidence or help from outside.

Rohit Sharma's comments came after India's thumping 3-0 ODI whitewash of West Indies on Friday. Virat Kohli came to bat in a variety of situations but could only manage scores of 8 (4), 18 (30) and 0 (2). This marked the first time in over seven years that the 33-year-old failed to go past 50 in an ODI series.

In a post-series press conference, Rohit Sharma was asked what the team management was doing to help Virat Kohli's confidence. He jokingly rubbished the question and said they were never concerned about his form. He said the thinktank was instead worried about India's middle-order batting, which performed really well against the Windies.

The captain said:

"Does Virat Kohli need confidence? What are you talking about? (chuckles) I think not scoring 100 is a different thing [but] he played a series in South Africa and scored two fifties in three matches. I don't see anything wrong. And the team management is not at all worried. What we were worried about was, you know, how we will be challenged in the middle overs and I thought our middle overs batting in this series was really good."

Rohit Sharma expressed his gratification that the middle order lightened the over-reliance on the top three - a major concern since the 2017 Champions Trophy - by performing throughout the series. He added:

"We batted well and according to the conditions. We've been talking about it for a long time that our middle-order doesn't get too many chances to bat because the top-3 bats a lot. In this series, you saw how our middle-order batted and how well they read the situations. As a team, it was a big positive for us and we would like to carry that forward."

In what would please many in the Indian camp, the top-scorers in the series are all middle-order batters. Suryakumar Yadav (104 runs), Rishabh Pant (85), Shreyas Iyer (80 from 1 game) all put their hands up in crunch situations to help the team win. KL Rahul, who played at No.4 in the second ODI, also scored a decent 49.

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"It's important for them to have as much game time as possible" - Rohit Sharma on India's middle-order batters

Speaking about the roles of the middle-order batters going ahead, Rohit Sharma said he wants them to have "as much game time as possible". He also stated that if one of them could also contribute with the ball it would be cherry on the cake.

The skipper said:

"See, in One-Day cricket the No. 4, 5 and 6 are very, very important. Some of the greats of Indian cricket have batted at those numbers... but see, for us, it's important whoever those 4, 5 and 6 are they get enough game time. And of course, if we have a bowling option in those guys, nothing like it. But honestly, for me, it's important for them to have as much game time as possible."

Rohit Sharma added:

"We've got a lot of candidates for those numbers and it's a good headache to have and a good competition within themselves to come out and play and perform... Everyone in the middle-order, whenever they got an opportunity to bat, performed and got the runs as well. And they batted in difficult situations as well. In the last two games, we were 40-3 odd and we had to build the innings. In both games, we managed to do that so it's a good sign moving forward."

India and West Indies will now lock horns in a three-match T20I series, beginning on February 16 in Kolkata.