Irfan Pathan has said that Rohit Sharma was only making Playing XI in Australia because he was captain
Pathan defended himself for not asking tough questions to Rohit during a mid-match interview in Sydney
Rohit is now retired from Test cricket
Irfan Pathan On Rohit Sharma's Poor Performances In Tests: 'If He Was Not Captain...'
Pathan was criticised for being lenient on Rohit in a mid-match interview during the Sydney Test. The former all-rounder said he had to be polite with the then India captain because he was his guest in the interview
Summary
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan said that Rohit Sharma did not deserve to be in the Playing XI in the later stages of India's tour to Australia late last year. In a recent interview to Lallantop, Pathan said that if Rohit was not the captain, he would not make the Indian team due to his poor form.
Rohit was going through a poor patch in Australia and opted to drop himself from the final Test in Sydney.
“Rohit Sharma is an amazing player in white-ball cricket, but his average in Test cricket that year was 6, so we said that if he was not the captain, he would not have had a place in the team, and this is true,” he said.
However, Pathan was criticised for being lenient on Rohit in a mid-match interview during the Sydney Test. The former all-rounder said he had to be polite with the then India captain because he was his guest in the interview.
"People say that we supported Rohit Sharma more than necessary. Of course, when someone comes to interview on your broadcasting channel, you will not misbehave with them, right? You have invited him, so you will behave politely.
"When Rohit came to interview, we were, of course, polite, and we had to show that, because he was our guest. So that was connected and said we were supporting him, but it was we who said...we had said that he should keep fighting, but that said, he should not have had a place in the playing XI. If he was not the captain of the team, he would have been dropped," he said.
Rohit Sharma had a horror tour to Australia where he missed the first and last Test match. In the intervening three matches, Rohit averaged an embarrassing 6.20 – the lowest ever by a visiting captain in Australia (minimum five innings). His form was on a sharp dip even before the Australia tour as he could not score even one half-century in the preceding home series against New Zealand where India were whitewashed 0-3 in a historic low.
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Rohit retired from Test cricket ahead of the England tour.
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