I’ve answered this question a lot of times: Rohit on Kohli’s overseas Test form

Virat Kohli ended his five-year long Test overseas century drought in the second match against the West Indies that ended in a draw in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

When a reporter asked if there were concerns around the lack of big knocks from Kohli, the Indian captain said the team doesn’t care about “outside noises”.

“I’ve answered this question a lot of times. All the outside talk, who scored how many, took how many wickets… people who say such things don’t know what happens inside,” Rohit said during a pre-match press conference for the first ODI against the West Indies here on Thursday.

“For us, what happens inside stays inside. We prefer that. For us, the most important thing is to win matches or series, not who’s talking what. It doesn’t matter to us.”

“Our priority is the three ODI matches right now, we’re focussing on that,” he added.

“Inside talks remain inside and we want it to stay inside only. This is something that I have said a number of times and in future as well I will say this only,” he added.

After nearly five years of overseas Test century drought, Kohli scored a century in an international Test in Trinidad. Rohit, meanwhile, is unconcerned with what is being said publicly about Kohli’s or any other player’s performance.

Rohit Sharma discussed external criticism with the media prior to India’s first ODI matchup against the West Indies.

“Look I have answered this question a number of times. We don’t focus too much on what is being said on the outside as they don’t know what conversations we have within the team and we would like to keep it that way. Our focus remains on how to get the best out of every individual in the team and how to help the team win games and series. Now our focus is on the three one-dayers and giving players chances so I would want to keep myself involved with that,” Rohit said in a pre-match presentation.

“There are quite a few players in the team who have played so much cricket that they need not be told everything. They are more than capable of understanding their game and you need not go and tell them every single detail. Our job is to make the new players comfortable and help them get the best out of themselves. Our focus is only on those things that could be for the betterment of the team,” the India captain further added.

Kohli’s latest hundred came in his 500th international match. It was his 76th century for India, having last hit an away ton in December 2018.

Kohli was dismissed for 76 in the first Test in Dominica.

*With agency inputs

Updated: 27 Jul 2023, 10:18 PM IST