WI vs IND: We don’t look into all those things, says Rohit Sharma on Virat Kohli’s 5-year overseas lean patch

India captain Rohit Sharma expressed his frustration with questions about Virat Kohli’s overseas form by blatantly saying that he has “answered this question multiple times”.

Kohli ended his five-year-long Test overseas hundred drought in the second match against West Indies that ended in a draw. His century came in his 500th international match. It also marked his 76th hundred for India, having last hit an away ton in December 2018.

When Rohit was asked about Kohli’s form, the India skipper, ahead of the first ODI against West Indies, said: “I have answered this question multiple times. The outside noise, who has scored how much or has taken how many wickets or hasn’t taken… People sitting outside, when they talk, they don’t know what is happening inside.

“Inside talks remain inside and we want it to stay inside only. We don’t look into all those things. For us, it is important how we win a win or a series. Our focus is on that instead of who is talking what. This is something that I have said a number of times and in future as well I will say this only.”

Kohli missed a century in the first Test against West Indies, falling short at 76 runs. However, he achieved his 29th Test hundred in the second Test, taking 182 deliveries to do so. He is now six centuries away from Sunil Gavaskar’s 35 and seven away from Rahul Dravid’s 36 Test tons.

Most Test hundreds for India
Sachin Tendulkar – 51
Rahul Dravid – 36
Sunil Gavaskar – 35
Virat Kohli – 29

Among active cricketers, Kohli leads with 76 international hundreds. To match Sachin Tendulkar’s record, he needs 24 more. Kohli has 46 ODI hundreds and one in T20Is. He scored his first international hundred since November 2019 during last year’s Asia Cup and has added six more since then.