"Without Him, India Would Have a More Stable Lineup": Pathan on Rohit's Impact

This has been one of the worst year of Rohit Sharma in Test cricket where he lost his form and was the most dull as a captain. Looking at someone who has scored 4301 runs in his Test career, Rohit has scored only 24.76 runs in 14 Tests this year and has lost five out of the six matches that he has captained India. 

In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that is going on currently Rohit has scored 31 runs in 5 matches at an average of 6. 20 with the highest score of 10. He was dropped down to bat at No. 6 for two matches and then when it didn’t click for him, he moved up to the opening position which meant that an in-form KL Rahul was demoted to bat at No. 3. Did it work? In my opinion, it did not.

“A player who has made about 20,000 runs yet the way Rohit is struggling now, it seems his form is not supporting him at all. What’s happening now is that he is the captain, so he is playing. If he were not the captain, he might not be playing right now. You would have had a set team. KL Rahul would have been playing at the top. (Yashasvi) Jaiswal would have been there. Shubman Gill would have been there,” former Indian pacer Irfan Paathan said during the commentary.

“If we talk about reality, considering how he is struggling with the bat, there might not have been a place for him in the playing XI. But because he is the captain, and you want to win the next match to draw the series, he stays in the team,” the former pacer added.

There have been several calls for Rohit Sharma to retire from the T20 format after the batsman failed to impress in the year. As the age of the player is not in his favor, it is a wise decision. Irfan Pathan has termed it as a very ‘disappointing scene’ to see the Indian captain batting.

"His form is so poor. Even in India, even before coming here, he wasn’t scoring runs, and he still hasn’t scored runs. This is a very disappointing scene when I see Rohit Sharma batting,” Pathan said.