As Rohit Sharma failed to score well again with the bat in the second ODI against England, news of Rohit being given an ‘ultimatum’ by the BCCI selection committee to ‘move on’ after the end of the ongoing series made headlines. It has been claimed that the selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, has told Rohit that he is not in the Indian team’s plans for the 2027 ODI World Cup as well. However, India’s batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak, has denied putting such pressure on him as well.

Speaking at the press conference after Team India’s defeat to England in the second ODI in Cardiff, Kotak said, “See, I don’t think a big player like Rohit Sharma can have any sort of pressure. He’s too good a player to feel that. Yes, he didn’t get runs in the opening two matches, but I don’t think that makes any difference. But today, it also looked like he’d probably get a good innings going. But that’s okay,” Kotak told the media in the post-match press conference.

Kotak also continued to play down the chatter around Rohit Sharma being under pressure to secure his future in ODI cricket.

“See, honestly, I have played a lot of cricket, and I have seen a lot of cricket. On any given day, there are a lot of batters I have seen who don’t get the momentum that they are looking for, and that can happen. You might see a completely different innings from Rohit Sharma at Lord’s,” said Kotak.

“So, I wouldn’t use the word ‘struggling’, but, maybe the shots he normally plays on the up and all, because of the double bounce, probably he felt it was not comfortable. Shubman got a quick start, then Virat got a quick start, but he didn’t get balls in his slot, or he didn’t get going. That’s what I felt. So, I wouldn’t say that, because you could definitely see a completely different innings from a player like Rohit, and I think that I have seen that happening to a lot of batters. So, it’s not just Rohit; I wouldn’t use the word ‘struggling’,” Sitanshu Kotak concluded.