IND vs ENG 1st ODI: Ex-India cricketer R Ashwin has reacted to India skipper Rohit Sharma's lean patch and reckoned that if he wants to not be asked about his form is by perform. The Indian skipper had a forgetful outing in his comeback match in the 50-over format as he got after scoring just two runs during the series opener against England in Nagpur.

The India captain has been going through a lean patch as after playing in eight Test matches, he had scored just 164 runs at an average of 10.93 including one fifty. During the pre-match press conference, he was enquired about his poor form, and questions were asked about his future as well.

At the same time, Ashwin backed Rohit and revealed that it would be annoying for him to face such questions. He too wished for Rohit to smash a hundred in this series to prove his naysayers wrong.

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"This is not easy. If you look at it from Rohit's POV, then obviously, it is frustrating for him. He wants to concentrate on the series. He thinks that I've done well in this format, and I'd like to continue. I'm going into the tournament with a lot of confidence on the back of the one-day tournaments that I've played. But people will ask questions,” Ashwin was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.

I pray Rohit scores a century in this series: Ashwin

“The ones who are watching will ask. It's a catch-22 situation. You can't stop these questions. When will they stop? When he performs. But as a cricketer, I understand what Rohit is going through. It's not easy. I pray that he does well and scores a century in this series,"o he concluded.

At the same time, the Rohit Sharma-led side had defeated England by four wickets during the series opener as batters Shubman Gill (87), Shreyas Iyer (59), and Axar Patel (52) contributed significantly and helped the team chase down the target of 249 runs. Even though the hosts did win the match all eyes were on Rohit's woeful performance as the India captain needed to score runs before the mega-event. And that is why he will aim to bounce back during the second match in Cuttack on Sunday.