'Ideal time for him to recover', says Virat Kohli on Rohit Sharma's 'unfortunate' injury

Ahead of the ODI series against New Zealand, Skipper Virat Kohli has called the Rohit Sharma's calf injury as "unfortunate" adding that it is an ideal time for him to recover as there are no crucial upcoming ODI tournaments to look up to.

"It is unfortunate that Rohit cannot be part of the ODI series, the impact he has had is there for everyone to see. We do not have any ODI tournaments to look up to, so it is ideal for him to get recovered. In ODI cricket, Prithvi is definitely going to start, KL will play in the middle-order. We want him to get accustomed to keep and play in the middle," Kohli told reporters ahead of the first ODI.

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Mayank Agarwal replaces Rohit Sharma

Mayank Agarwal has been named as Rohit's replacement for the ODIs after the latter was ruled out of the ODI series against the Kiwis after injuring his calf in the final T20I. Kohli has confirmed that Prithvi Shaw has also been included in the playing XI.

Kohli also recalled the team's had a hard-fought victory in the ODI series against Australia where the visitors had won the first match in the three-match series with India fighting back to win the remaining two. "In ODIs, we played a really hard-fought series against Australia, we lost the first match, but then came back to win the series 2-1. We will take a lot of confidence from that series, we will try to play positive cricket. We have to believe in our own plans, we know that New Zealand will not give up and we need to vary of that (sic)," Kohli said.

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Speaking on the disappointing fielding performance by the Indian side, the captain said, "The average age of this team is 27, we should be fielding way better than we are. The fielding standard in the last series was not good from either side. In T20s, it can happen as you can get nervous. In ODIs we have had some bad fielding experiences, you do not expect it. I think it is about taking all three skills seriously".

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India white-washed the Kiwis 5-0 in the T20I series with two of the matches concluding in the super over. the sides will face each other in the first ODI on Wednesday. After the 3-match ODI series, India has two Test matches lined up against the Kiwis followed by an ODI series with South Africa.

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