"We should trust his call & allow him to figure out his own batting" - Robin Uthappa confident of Virat Kohli's comeback

Indian batter Robin Uthappa scotched the din around Virat Kohli, saying the former captain has enough experience to know what best suits him. Kohli will mark his return at the Asia Cup later this month, thus missing the Zimbabwe tour starting tomorrow.

While Virat Kohli’s lack of runs has been under the scanner for quite some time now, fans and experts also seem unhappy with him taking frequent breaks. Uthappa, however, opined that the star batter has already tried using gametime to get back into form and taking time off can thus help unclutter the mind.

“There are only two choices – you either take a break or you dive deeper into it. And over the last couple of years, he’s tried both avenues. It’s his call and he perhaps believes, given the situation we are at right now, that taking a break right now would be better for him. And sometimes, taking a break can unclutter your mind and help you just reset, or gives you time to actually think deeply what’s going wrong and how you want to address it.

“And maybe, that’s why he’s decided to take that time off. But whatever the reason, I feel Virat being Virat, him serving the country as he has and giving us the pleasure of his performances over the years, I think we should trust his call and allow him to figure out his own batting. Because, when he performed the way he performed, I think he found a way to figure out how to perform at that level and at that intensity,” Robin Uthappa told Sportskeeda in a media interaction organised by Sony.

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener further pointed to the ongoing transitional phase in the team, adding that Kohli might be taking some time to come to terms with the reality of not being the skipper anymore.

“He just has to find his feet as far as the structures changing within the team. Leaving captaincy and playing just as a player, it’s a huge change for someone like him who’s led the team for a considerable period of time and led the team in a certain way. The dynamics have changed now, so he probably wants to find his feet as far as that is also concerned. We need to trust him and trust that Virat will come back with a bang in the nearest future,” the 36-year-old added.

After his mediocre returns against England in July, Kohli chose to skip the ODI and T20I series against the West Indies citing personal reasons.

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"So that they can’t ignore him from that T20 World Cup" - Robin Uthappa's message for Rahul Tripathi

Rahul Tripathi could manage a 11-ball 7 in a tour game against Northamptonshire

Meanwhile, batter Rahul Tripathi is stuck in a muddle. After getting picked for the Ireland T20Is – he didn’t get a game – on the back of impressive performances in the IPL, the 31-year-old now finds himself playing a different format.

Robin Uthappa, though, wants the Maharashtra lad to still hunt down a spot in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup scheduled for October-November this year.

“I think the focus should be to just stack up such performances here, so that they can’t ignore him from that T20 World Cup coming up. Because I feel he’s got some real potential and calibre there. If I were him, I’d be focusing on making sure that I maximise the opportunities that come here – I think he will get to bat in the middle order. When he gets the opportunity, I think if he can go there and prove his mettle, I am certain that people will take notice and say, ‘Hey, is there a way we can squeeze him into this T20 side?’ And I think, that should primarily what his focus should be: just go out there and smoke it,” Uthappa, who won the inaugural World T20 in 2007, stated.

India have sent a second-string 16-member squad to play three ODIs against the African nation. While the series might offer the young guns a chance to realize their childhood dreams, Robin Uthappa feels that the sojourn is the perfect opportunity for batters Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul to make their respective cases.

“Any youngster coming on a tour like this will always feel like, ‘Hey, you know what? I am playing for my country and this is what I’ve dreamt of. Whether it is Zimbabwe or Australia, I am going out there and giving my best’. The youngsters are looking at it as an opportunity.

"For someone like Shikhar, it will be continuing the great form that he is in, because we don’t know how much of one-day cricket he’s going to get over the next six to eight months before the World Cup happens. So keeping that in mind, you want to give him as much match time as possible to keep him in the groove. For someone like KL Rahul, it’s about getting him back into the groove, because he’s missed close to 100 days of cricket,” he concluded.

It’s a no-brainer that the VVS Laxman-led management will try to further strengthen the bench. The onus is, thus, on the players to grab their chances with both hands and move in from the fringes.