India might have started their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign with a four-wicket win over Pakistan, but they were far from their best as a team.

The Men in Blue largely defeated Pakistan on the back of Virat Kohli’s awe-inspiring 82* off 53 balls while chasing the target of 160.

The top-order failed to step up to the plate as India were reduced to 31/4 at one stage. Openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul endured another failure in a T20 World Cup match against Pakistan, scoring 4 runs each.

Ahead of India’s second Super 12 game against Netherlands in Sydney on Thursday (October 27), batting legend Sunil Gavaskar expressed his concern over skipper Rohit’s form.

"The only concern really has been that Rohit Sharma of late has not quite scored with the same capability we know him to. I think if he gets going it really makes people’s life really easy for people to follow," Gavaskar told India Today.

Prior to the T20 World Cup, Sharma featured in the T20I series against South Africa at home and recorded two ducks. The right-hander also looked out of touch in the warm-up fixtures against Western Australia XI and Australia, registering scores of 3 and 15 in the two innings that he batted.  

Considering the way India’s top order barring Virat Kohli faltered against Pakistan, Gavaskar suggested the team to go with a slow but steady approach in the powerplay and prioritise not losing wickets.

"A good platform is what everyone looks at. You give a good platform, a good start and it makes that much easier for somebody coming down at four or five to start hitting the ball from the first ball. They don’t have to give themselves time to settle in, they don't have to give themselves time to steady the ship, like India had to do against Pakistan when they were four wickets down for 31. So, even if you get a slightly slower start, maybe get to about 40 after losing 1 wicket, that is a much better platform than 31/4," he opined.