At the point when former India cricketers like Kapil Dev, Virender Sehwag and Venkatesh Prasad addressed Virat Kohli’s place in India’s T20I side, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar supported the former India captain to come great in the ODI series against England.

Gavaskar, who is strictly against cricketers taking regular rests, said India have embraced a “go big or go home” way of batting in T20 cricket which won’t find success consistently and subsequently Kohli will have a significantly better possibility of succeeding in the ODIs, where he can get his eye in and play his natural game.

“See, I cannot understand that when Rohit Sharma does not score runs no one talks about it. It is the same with other players as well. There is a saying that form is temporary, class is temperament. See, the kind of template they are adopting (in T20Is) where they have to swing the bat from ball one, you will succeed and fail,”

Gavaskar told Sports Tak.

Kohli, who is probably going to sit out of the first ODI at the Oval on Tuesday because of a crotch injury, got full support from captain Rohit Sharma, who excused the discussions about the inquiries on the former skipper’s situation in the side as ‘outside noise.’

Also Read: Kohli suffers groin injury, likely to miss 1st ODI

“I think the ODI series has come at the right time. It suits his natural game. Like in Test cricket, there is enough time to settle down. In ODI cricket too the batter can play himself according to the conditions,”

Gavaskar opined.

Backing Kohli further, Gavaskar said there is sufficient time before the T20 World Cup team is declared. Kohli will get a great deal of chances to return to frame before the showpiece event in Australia in October-November.

“We have a good selection committee which is thinking about it. I think there is enough time (more than two months) to announce the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022. There will be several competitive Asian countries participating in the event. You will have to pick your team keeping in mind the form of a player. There is no need to panic yet and we need to give them some time,”

the 73-year-old added.

Kohli has not been upto to the mark recently. In the T20I series against England too, Kohli got back with miserable scores of 1 and 11, getting out attempting to play aggressive shots.

Prior, former World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev had said that Virat Kohli ought not be given extra preference and ought to be excluded from the team if he doesn’t score runs. In any case, Rohit Sharma countered him expressing that they don’t have any idea what is happening inside the team and thus the external discussions don’t affect the team.

There have been reports doing the rounds of the internet that Kohli had requested rest during the five-match T20I series against West Indies towards the finish of July 2022. Yet, the former expert was not persuaded with players requesting rest during International competitions.

The Indian side will next feature in the ODI series against England beginning on 12 July. Gavaskar accepts that the series could help Kohli as his game is fit to the ODI design.

“I feel the 50-overs games are coming at the right time as his natural game suits the format. He can get a bit of time to settle himself before starting to hit. So it can be a good format for Kohli,”

Gavaskar said.