'You definitely think about it while sitting in hotel': Kohli's childhood coach reveals star's big challenge in England

Team India will return to the longest format of the game on July 1 when the side takes on England to play the remaining fifth Test of the previous year's series. India are currently leading the five-Test series 2-1; however, while Virat Kohli had led the side last year, Rohit Sharma will be the captain of the Indian team as it takes on the Ben Stokes-led English team.

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Kohli has been going through a rough patch with the bat over the past few months. The former India captain had a forgettable outing in the 2022 Indian Premier League, where he scored 341 runs in 16 innings at a poor average of 22.73. One of Kohli's compatriots in the English team, Joe Root, is enjoying a stellar run with the bat, however. In the ongoing three-Test series against New Zealand, Root has scored 305 runs in four innings at a brilliant average of 101.67.

And so, Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma believes that the Indian batter would “definitely” think about his rivalry with Root when off the field; however, once action starts, Sharma says Kohli will only focus on the game.

“Both are fantastic players. A healthy rivalry is always there at the back of the mind, that he has come close to you or has gone ahead of you, or you are close to the other person's record. You definitely think about it while sitting in the hotel or the dressing room,” Sharma told India News.

“You forget this rivalry when you go across the boundary line, then you only wait for the next ball and you have to see how to score your runs. You don't get Joe Root or anyone else in your mind.”

Kohli's childhood coach also spoke in detail about the 33-year-old batter's rough patch with the bat, insisting that the batter needs to keep things simple.

“But currently it is required for Virat to play his natural game and make a big score, which he is searching for for a long time. I have full hope that he will do that soon because it has been a long time,” said Sharma.

“It has not been seen often in Virat's entire career that he has such a long lean patch, in terms of triple figures, he has definitely scored runs otherwise, but his conversion rate was exceptional earlier, once he used to reach 30-35 runs, everyone used to believe that he will score big, a hundred will definitely be scored but lately that has not happened.”