File image of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.© AFP
India will need both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to be in form in order to win the Champions Trophy, said Sri Lanka spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan here on Monday, adding that teams from the subcontinent will have more balanced bowling attacks in the competition. The form of Rohit and Kohli has dominated the talk in the build-up to the eight-nation tournament which gets underway on February 19. While Rohit banished his batting struggles with his 32nd ODI ton on Sunday against England, Kohli is yet to fire since his 100 not out in the Perth Test against Australia in November.
“Definitely, because they are world-class players. Always say class is permanent (and) form is only temporary. So they will come to the (batting) form,” Muralitharan told PTI Videos in an exclusive interaction during the launch of sports drink ‘Spinner’ along with Reliance Consumer Products Ltd.
“Rohit has scored a hundred and Virat will also will come to form. Definitely, they need to be in form in this tournament for India to win,” he added.
Muralitharan said the teams from the subcontinent will have a balanced attack for the conditions on offer in Pakistan and UAE.
“It’s (spin bowling) more important because wickets will help the spinners in Pakistan, even in the UAE. I think spinners will play a big role in this tournament,” he said.
“There are a lot of good spinners in the world because if you take India, there are about four spinners in the squad and if you take Afghanistan, they (also) have a good spin attack (and) even Bangladesh. Every subcontinent country has good spinners,” he added.
“India has an all-round attack because they got very good spinners and fast bowlers as well. Even Pakistan has also got the same. These subcontinent countries have a balanced attack for this kind of playing conditions,” Muralitharan said.
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