"If I can add value...that's a great thing": India batting coach Kotak on Rohit, Virat seeking to regain form

Rajkot (Gujarat) [India], January 27 (ANI): India's new batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has said that his role involves sharing and understanding and it would be great if he could contribute to how senior players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are planning their games.

The two famous batters have been struggling for form and had a difficult Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.

Runs have become scarce for the two after India's victory in the T20I World Cup.

"See, Rohit and Virat are very senior players. But even the players we have now, it is a lot more about sharing, a lot to try and understand how they are planning their games, where they think, and then if we can add something, that's how I think, if I can add value to 2 per cent, 5 per cent, that's a great thing," Kotak said answering queries in a pre-match press conference ahead of the third T20I against England on Tuesday.

"The amount of cricket they have played where they have performed, it won't be unfair to say there might be a lot of things for me to learn from them. That's the way this game goes. You have to be open, and you have to be ready to learn," he added.

India are 2-0 ahead in the five-match T20I series.

The 2024-25 season Test season was almost a nightmare for 'Ro-Ko' (Rohit and Virat Kohli), who have been India's most prolific modern-day stars. Indian skipper, Rohit, scored just 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of 10.93 with best score of 52.

Rohit turned his focus to domestic cricket to resurrect his form but he returned with scores of 3 and 28 in his first Ranji Trophy game since 2015.

Virat has scored a shambolic 382 runs in 10 matches and 19 innings at an average of 22.87, with just a century and fifty each.

Kotak feels he will be willing to share his inputs with Virat and Rohit at the right time.

"If they are in a mindset, during that point of time, if they are ready to take any inputs, yes. I would have certain things in my mind, and I will share, but it has to be the right time, and they should feel yes, they are ready for that," he said. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)