Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak threw his weight behind Rohit Sharma after the latter's underwhelming returns in the ongoing ODI series against England.

Rohit's struggles were particularly on display in the second ODI in Cardiff on Thursday, which England won by four wickets to draw level in the three-match series. He was far from his fluent self, ending the Powerplay on 10 off 18 even as India raced to 61/1 in the phase, before eventually falling for a laborious 47-ball 26 as he attempted a sweep of Will Jacks.

Rohit hasn't been in the best of forms coming in to the series. In fact, in eight ODIs this year, he has a solitary half-century and averages 30.12. Amid speculation that the selectors were moving on from the former India captain in their build-up to the 2027 World Cup, Kotak was quizzed if the team management would look at Rohit's spot after Sunday's decider at Lord's. The batting coach stated that there was no pressure on the master batter.

"I don't think a player as big as Rohit can feel the pressure," Kotak said, addressing the media after the Cardiff game.

"He's too good a player to feel that. Yes he hasn't scored in two games. I don't think that makes any difference. But today also it looked like he'll get a good innings but that's okay [that he didn't get a big score]."

While Rohit couldn't get going at one end, captain Shubman Gill was quick to race off the traps although he fell for a 30-ball 31. Virat Kohli too started briskly, reeling off three boundaries in his first 11 deliveries, pouncing on anything too full as England's bowlers weren't on the money with their lengths early on, on a surface offering slight variable bounce.

Kotak was against the opinion that Rohit was "struggling", and was bullish of him turning things around at Lord's.

"On a [given] day, there are a lot of batters I have seen, they don't get that momentum what they are looking for, and that can happen," Kotak said.

"You might see [a] completely different innings from Rohit Sharma in Lord's. I wouldn't use the word struggling, but maybe the shots he normally plays on the up, which is because of the double bounce, probably he felt it was not comfortable.

"Shubman got a quick start, then Virat got a quick start, but he [Rohit] probably didn't get balls in his slot.

"You could definitely see a completely different innings from a player like Rohit and I have seen that happening to a lot of batters. So it's not just Rohit. I wouldn't use the word he was struggling."

India were placed strongly at 178/3, with Kohli's 65 driving the innings forward in the company of Shreyas Iyer, who top-scored with 66. Once Kohli departed, India stuttered and collapsed to 193/7, eventually mustering a below-par total of 233.

Kotak reckoned a score in the 270-280 range would have been challenging, adding that Kohli sent word to the dressing room on the behaviour of the pitch during his innings.

"When there is a double pace or double bounce, it is more about a batter adapting there," Kotak said.

"While he [Kohli] was batting only, he sent a message to us and told the head coach also that the short balls are not going through. So that, we knew [on how the pitch was behaving]."

Kotak also felt that the wicket got slightly slower in the second innings, adding Washington Sundar's hamstring injury - one that he said looked a "bad injury" - was a big blow during the Indian innings.

"Second half, [the] wicket maybe got a little slower and Joe Root just stayed on the wicket. But I think 233, so five-and-a-half an over, if one batter gets a hundred, I don't think it's a big score to chase. If we would have got Root out, yes, it would have been interesting.

Kotak also chose to play down speculation of a reported rift between Kohli and head coach Gautam Gambhir, while mentioning that there was no need to bridge any layer of communication between the two.

"No (laughs), Virat and Gautam would've spoken about 10 times today. I don't think that needs any bridge," Kotak said, also elaborating on his own chat with Kohli at the nets in Edgbaston ahead of the first ODI.

"Basically before he went out to bat, he spoke a few things to me. Honestly as a batting coach, unless he feels something or spots something major, his batting shouldn't be disturbed and he shouldn't be told much. But he asked me certain things before regarding his footwork and after the nets, he was talking [to me].

"Apart from that, I don't know where the rumours come from, but they do," Kotak said.