“Earlier, Virat used to be in the top 3” - Kohli’s childhood coach admits rankings reflect Team India’s unimpressive performances

Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has conceded that Team India players falling in the ICC rankings in recent months is a direct result of their inconsistent performances.

Team India had a poor Asia Cup in the UAE, failing to reach the final. While their second-string teams won the series' against West Indies and Zimbabwe, India had a mixed tour of England. They went down in the rescheduled Test before recovering to win the white-ball contests.

Ravindra Jadeja is the only Indian player currently occupying the top spot in the official ICC rankings. He is the number one all-rounder in Test cricket. Asked if India’s lack of dominance in the rankings proved a point, Sharma told India News Sports:

“Yes, it definitely does. Earlier, Virat used to be in the top 3 of the rankings consistently, and Rohit also used to occupy a very good position. Now, Indian players are mostly at No. 4 or No. 5, which is not very credible. It is also very unfortunate since India is considered a world beater in all formats.

“Virat dominated the rankings for a few years, but since then no one has come up with such match-winning performances consistently.”

Looking at the updated ICC player rankings, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin occupies the No. 2 spot among Test bowlers. Kohli and Rohit Sharma are fifth and sixth in the ODI batting rankings, respectively, while Jasprit Bumrah is fourth among the bowlers.

Suryakumar Yadav (No. 4) is the only Indian player in the top 5 of the T20I rankings. Ironically, the Men in Blue are No. 1 in the T20I team rankings.

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“His failures hurt Team India in a big way” - Rajkumar Sharma on Virat Kohli’s impact

Kohli returned to form during the Asia Cup and also broke his century drought, which lasted more than 1000 days. Speaking about the batter’s value to the Indian team, Sharma admitted that his failures impacted the side in a big way. He explained:

“Kohli’s consistency has been crucial for India. In that phase where he wasn’t as consistent, it was clear how much the team depended on him. His failures hurt Team India in a big way. But hopefully the youngsters will take more responsibility now. You cannot win a World Cup by depending on one or two players.”

During the discussion, Sharma also advised Team India captain Rohit Sharma to lead from the front and not skip any games till the end of the World Cup. He stated:

“Rohit is the kind of player who can win matches on his own. The more he plays, the better for the team. Now that he is the captain, he must play consistently and not miss any games at least till the (end of the) World Cup. The team needs him to lead from the front.”

Rohit had a decent Asia Cup campaign with the bat, scoring 133 runs in four matches at an average of 33.25 and a strike rate of 151.14.