Former India national cricket team all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that if India skipper Rohit Sharma is not the captain, he will not be able to find a place in the Test team’s starting XI.

Irfan Pathan’s remarks came ahead of the Rohit Sharma-led Indian national cricket team’s first match of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Failed miserably in four tests.

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Rohit Sharma is going through a tough time

India skipper Rohit Sharma is going through the worst period of his career as a Test captain and batsman. Under his leadership, India had an embarrassing match against the New Zealand national cricket team in the home Test series.

Some changes were expected in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, but things got worse. In his absence, India won the Perth Test in dominant fashion, but since his return they have struggled, yet to register a win, losing two Tests and managing to draw against Australia .

Rohit’s personal form also affected the team as he didn’t contribute anything at all. In the Adelaide and Brisbane Tests, he failed miserably with a mid-table batting performance.

There was a change in the starting XI for the Melbourne Test as he returned to his original starting spot, pushing the in-form KL Rahul to the third spot. However, that didn’t work either and the Indian captain’s batting performance was terrible.

In the five innings of the Border-Gavaskar series, Rohit scored just 31 runs at an average of 6.20.

If he wasn’t the captain, he probably wouldn’t be playing now – Irrfan Pathan

Former Indian national cricket team player Pathan said in an interview with Star Sports that if Rohit is not the captain, the Indian team will play in the eleven in Test cricket because based on his current form, he Will not be included in the team.

“A player who has got around 20,000 runs – but Rohit is struggling right now and his form doesn’t seem to be supporting him at all. What’s happening now is he is the captain so he is playing. If he is not the captain If so, he might not be in the game right now.

“You will have a fixed team. KL Rahul will bat at the top. Jaiswal will be there. Shubman Gill will be there. If we talk about reality, considering how he struggles with the bat, it may not be what he has become in the past. A place in the starting XI,” Irrfan Pathan said.

Even in India, even before coming here, he didn’t score – Irrfan Pathan

Irrfan Pathan further expressed his disappointment and said that Rohit was in very bad form and he also failed to score in the home series.

“But because he is the captain and you want to win the next game to draw, so he stayed in the team. But his form was poor. Even in India, even before coming here, he didn’t score runs but he Still no points scored.

“When I saw Rohit Sharma batting, it was a very disappointing scene. Because whenever I see Rohit Sharma batting, I always want to see him Batting. Whether it’s Test cricket or one-day cricket, but now, the way he’s going, whether it’s mentality or physical fit, I don’t see it at all,” he added.

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