Virat Kohli Wants The Indian Crowd To Get Behind Rishabh Pant Instead Of Waiting For Him To Make A Mistake On The Field As He Is Representing The Country

Virat Kohli stood by Rishabh Pant and said he would not led the youngster feel left out as he struggles with his form.

Pant is under the scanner as he has been unable to produce big scores and also for shoddy keeping. He is also in the line of fire for bad DRS calls.

But Kohli is backing him and said the team has a responsibility to support Pant when the chips are down.

"We certainly believe in Rishabh's ability. As you say, it's (also) the player's responsibility to do well, work hard and I agree but I think it's a collective responsibility of everyone around us as well to give that player some space to do that," he said.

"If he misses a chance or something, people can't shout. It's not respectful because no player would like that to happen," he added.

Kohli expects the crowd get behind Pant. He had been while playing against Bangladesh.

"You are playing in your own country and you should get support rather than always thinking what mistake is this guy going to make. No one wants to be in that position," he went on to say.

"He can't be isolated to such an extent that he gets nervous on the field. If you want him to do well and win matches for India all of us collectively should make him feel like he belongs and we are here to do things for him rather than against him," said the skipper.

He insisted that Pant's match-winning abilities are beyond question which he has shown in the IPL.

"As Rohit (Sharma) said recently, he needs to be left alone, he is a match-winner. Once he comes good, you will see a very different version of him, which we have seen in the IPL already because he is free and relaxed there.

"He feels that there is a lot more respect when it comes to his abilities and what he can achieve for the team. I think he needs to feel that a bit more," he said.