Kohli, Rohit need some support: Srikkanth

Birmingham: Premier India batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma need support from the middle order heading into the knockout phase of the World Cup, feels former captain K Srikkanth.

Srikkanth, who was part of the victorious 1983 World Cup team, said India should use the defeat to England in Sunday’s match as a learning experience instead of pressing the panic button.

“There are still some problems for India to fix, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the main run-getters at the moment and they need some support,” Srikkanth wrote in his column for the ICC.

“Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were both superb again with the ball as well, but the spinners had an off-day – these things can happen,” he added.

While Rohit scored his third century of the tournament, Kohli made his fifth fifty-plus scores, but India’s spinners were taken to the task.

“India are still going to qualify for the semi-finals it is just a question of when and in what position in the top four.

“Defeat to England is certainly not a disaster it was a fantastic game of cricket and really you have to say India were totally outplayed by the better team.

“They have to accept their defeat in a gracious manner and move on to their final two games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” the former opener said.

England outbatted India to register a 31-run win in a high-scoring game and stay alive in the tournament.

Chasing an imposing 338 for win, India could only manage 306 for five, and Kohli lamented his side’s inability to accelerate on, what according to him, was a flat track.

Srikkanth said, “England came with a plan to attack their backs were against the wall and they came out swinging.

“Ben Stokes did a fantastic job at the death to add more runs to the total and Liam Plunkett was fantastic with the ball in those middle overs.”

Srikkanth called it a massive win for England, who found themselves in a spot of bother after defeat against Sri Lanka and Australia.

“This is a very important win for England, they are in a do or die situation and to win this emphatically against such a strong India side will get them a massive confidence boost before they play New Zealand in their last game.

“For India, a chase of 338 was never an easy task, even if it was quite a flat wicket at Edgbaston. It could have been even higher if not for the mastery of Bumrah in his final five overs.”

Srikkanth is confident of India bouncing back strongly in the coming matches.
“But in the end England fully deserved their win while India can take heart from getting over 300 in their first proper chase of this tournament.

“That will stand India in good stead moving forward and they have to use this defeat as a learning experience.