Sunil Gavaskar backs out-of-form Virat Kohli, says 'no one talks about Rohit Sharma, others'

In a recent chat with Sports Tak, Gavaskar, who was asked whether he was worried over Kohli's form, said, "I don't understand this that when Rohit Sharma doesn't score runs, nobody talks about it. When any other player doesn't score runs, nobody talks about it."

"Form is temporary and class is permanent," he added.

Gavaskar's comment came a day after Indian captain Rohit Sharma strongly backed Kohli slamming all who have been questioning the former skipper's place in the playing eleven.

In clear words, Sharma said after clinching a 2-1 victory over England in T20Is, "It is not difficult for us as we do not listen to the outside noise. I don't know who the experts are. I don't even understand why they are called experts. They are watching it from the outside, they don't know what is going on inside. We are building a team, we have a certain thought process.

"A lot of deliberation goes behind it. There is a lot of thinking behind it. Boys are backed. Boys are given chances. People outside don't know all these things. It is not important what is going on outside."

Sharma feels form in cricket may fluctuate but the quality remains intact and the fact will be the same in case of Kohli, who is struggling to get runs for quite some time now.

The captain said, "If you talk about form, it goes up and down for everyone. The quality of a player never goes down and we should remember that. When you make certain comments, you should always remember that the quality of a player does not go down. We back that quality. It has happened with me, it has happened with XYZ, it has happened with everyone, it is nothing new.

"When some player has done so well consistently for so long, that can't be written off in one or two series or one or two years. It takes people time to understand it completely, but those who are running the team know the importance of that quality."

Gavaskar's contemporary and India's first World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev has questioned why Kohli can't be dropped from the T20 team.

"Yes, now the situation is such that you might be forced to bench Kohli from T20 playing eleven. If world No. 2 bowler Ashwin can be dropped from Test side then (once upon a time) world No. 1 batter can also be dropped," Kapil Dev told ABP News.

"Virat is not batting at a level which we have seen him do over the years. He has made a name because of his performances but if he isn’t performing, then you can’t keep the performing youngsters out of the team," the cricket legend added.