As England beat India in the third T20I on Sunday at Trent Bridge, questions were raised whether Virat Kohli still deserves to be a part of the Men of Blue in his current form. However, India captain Rohit Sharma defended the 33-year-old batter, stating that the team will offer assistance to Kohli in the difficult time.

“We will back Virat Kohli, he has been consistent for a long time, one or two matches or series can be bad for anyone – we believe in his quality,” Sharma said after the loss against England.

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The India skipper also dismissed the proposition that Kohli should be vacating his spot in favour of other players waiting for their chance on the bench.

“I don’t know who are the experts who comments on players’ spot. We back player seeing their quality, if someone has been great for a decade we can’t just see what has happened over last few years,” he added.

India were handed a loss by England on Sunday, a victory in which could have given Rohit Sharma a new feather in his cap of equalling Ricky Ponting’s record.

On the other hand, Kohli scored only 11 runs off six balls, including a six and a four. He is now only one boundary in T20Is away from becoming the third player to hit 300 boundaries in T20Is, behind Paul Stirling and Rohit Sharma.

Kohli’s slump in form continued in the T20I series against England, where he was absent in the first and returned for the next two, scoring 12 across both matches.

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Questions from India and abroad have started to rise regarding Kohli’s spot in the team as many critics feel the Men in Blue have enough quality on the bench to replace the 33-year-old.

New information regarding the former captain’s spot have recently come to light, with reports claiming that his performance is set to be monitored from now on and will be in attention while selecting future squads. 

Till now, Kohli has stayed mum regarding his performance in recent years, however, have received suggestions to take a sabbatical and come back fresh to focus on getting back his fiery form.