Irfan Pathan (Photo Source: Irfan Pathan/Instagram)
For the upcoming tour against South Africa, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named three different captains across formats, which is something that has upset former cricketer Irfan Pathan. Notably, Rohit Sharma has taken a break from the white-ball format as Suryakumar Yadav will be seen leading the T20I squad, while KL Rahul has been given the same responsibility for three ODIs.
Speaking about the same, Pathan strongly criticised this move and stated that it’s ideal if India stay away from the split captaincy and coaching culture that England have developed recently. He believes that the workload can be managed since there are a lot of players in the pool and thus, he expects the selectors to make the right call and avoid different captains and coaching staffs for red and white ball cricket.
“This could be a sign for the future, which I am not a big fan of. There has been talk for a long time about whether we can do split captaincy. It’s true that workload management has been done here and that is why you are seeing such big squads and different captains. It’s clear that Rohit Sharma had to take a break from white-ball cricket, so you are not seeing him there,” Pathan said while speaking to Star Sports.
“You are seeing him as the captain for Test cricket. However, you might see these things going forward. You might even see different coaches for different formats. I believe it’s better if it doesn’t happen in our culture,” he added.
Meanwhile, there has been no confirmation regarding Rohit Sharma’s future in white-ball cricket. The veteran opener may return to the scheme of things before the upcoming T20 World Cup, but there’s no clarity if he will return to ODI cricket. The team management is likely to take a call before the next edition of the IPL as KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya remain to be the favourites to replace him as the next skipper in white-ball cricket.