Team India will play the Test on July 1 when they take on England to play the remaining fifth Test of the previous year’s five-match Test series. India are currently leading the five-Test series by 2-1. While Virat Kohli had led the team last year, Rohit Sharma will be the captain of the Indian team this time as well.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has been going through a lean patch with the bat over the past few months. The former India captain had a forgettable season in the 2022 Indian Premier League, where he scored 341 runs in 16 innings at an average of 22.73. On the other hand, Joe Root is enjoying a stellar run with the bat. In the ongoing three-match Test series against New Zealand, Root has scored 305 runs in four innings at a stunning average of 101.67.

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And Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma believes that the Indian batter would “definitely” think about his rivalry with Joe Root as well. “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. 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.

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“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,” he again shared about Virat Kohli.