Rajkumar Sharma, the childhood coach of Virat Kohli, expressed his excitement and that of Indian cricket fans as the star batter prepares to return to action in the three-match ODI series against England, beginning on July 14.
Kohli and Rohit set for ODI series
Veteran duo Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, now exclusively ODI players, will next be seen in action during the ODI series against England following the five-match T20I series.
Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of the Delhi Premier League (DPL) T20 2026 auction on July 1, Sharma said fans across the country are eagerly awaiting Kohli's return to the field, adding that he too is excited to see the star batter back in action.
Coach's expectations
"Definitely people are very excited and everybody is, you know, everyone is excited for Virat and the whole country wants to see him when he will be back and like others I am also waiting for him to be on the field again," Rajkumar Sharma said.
He added that he plans to attend the third ODI at Lord's and expressed hope that Kohli and India perform well throughout the series. "I'll join him in Lords for the third match, the third one-day I'll go for that, but yes, I wish and pray that he does well and India does well in all these three matches," he said.
India's recent form
India, under the captaincy of newly-appointed skipper Shreyas Iyer, lost to Ireland 2-0 in a two-match T20I series. Rajkumar urged India to put the disappointing T20I series loss behind them, expressing confidence that the team will bounce back and perform well against England. "I would say that Ireland series should be forgotten like a bad dream and India will do well against England. I am very sure that India will do well against England," he said.
DPL T20 auction insights
Speaking about the DPL T20 auction, Rajkumar said Himmat Singh was the New Delhi Tigers' top target, describing him as a proven performer and last season's captain. He added that after retaining Prince Yadav, the franchise was keen to bring Himmat back and successfully secured his signing. "Himmat is a proven player and we had to go for him. Last year he was the captain of our team New Delhi Tigers. So, we had to go for him and we retained Prince Yadav, so he was in the open marquee. So that was our chase and we were successful in getting him," he said.
Rajkumar said the New Delhi Tigers had a successful auction, securing around 80-90% of their targeted players. "Till now it's been quite good, almost all the players we wanted, we have taken them. Everything is not available in the auction; sometimes other teams also bid on it. But overall, if we see, we got 80% to 90% of the players we wanted," he said.
