Indian cricket veteran Irfan Pathan thinks Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are undergoing problems because they do not have practice at the match level. During the first ODI against Australia in Perth Rohit scored a mere eight runs off 14 balls with Kohli being dismissed without scoring a single run in eight balls. They had a bad performance, which led to the seven-wicket loss that India suffered during the first match in the series, placing Australia at the advantage of 1-0.
The pace and bounce of the Perth pitch proved hard to manage to the Indian batters. It was also the first international cricket match in a long time, both Kohli and Rohit were returning after the champions trophy final in March and their rhythm appeared to be disrupted.
Pathan pointed out that the two senior players need to play more competitive matches before major series. He said that skipping domestic or practice games before returning to the international level makes it harder for them to perform consistently and maintain their high standards.
“We will never judge Rohit and Virat by their performances, and no one should as well, because they are great players. But you have to do the things that are needed, you have to complete the processes, you have to play matches. In this regard, they have fallen behind. If they had played some matches before coming, and shown some form, the team management might have thought seven batters are enough, and we can include Kuldeep Yadav. But now, since the team is unsure of the form of three players, it is not happening,” Pathan said on his YouTube channel.
Aside from Rohit and Kohli, Pathan chastised Shreyas Iyer for not playing domestic cricket before of the high-voltage series against Australia. He used the example of Rishabh Pant, who would play for India A versus South Africa A to regain match fitness after recuperating from an injury.
“It is not like they (Virat, Rohit, and Shreyas) did not have a lot of options to play cricket (during the break). I believe that no matter how big a player you are, when it comes to Indian cricket, you have to make sure that you return after following the proper process. We have seen both Rohit and Virat work hard, but match fitness and normal fitness are two different things. For example, Rishabh Pant, coming after injury, will play for India ‘A’ against South Africa ‘A’.”
Irfan Pathan
