"I Am Not A Big Fan Of..." - Irfan Pathan Dismisses Concept Of Split Captaincy In Team India

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan expressed his disapproval of having separate captains for different formats in the Indian cricket team. Irfan Pathan mentioned that workload management is a key factor leading to the Indian team having different captains.

The senior selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, announced India’s squads for the multi-format tour of South Africa on November 30. Rohit Sharma will serve as the captain in the red-ball series, while KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav will lead the ODI and T20I teams.

This Could Be A Sign For The Future – Irfan Pathan

During a discussion on the Star Sports show Game Plan, Irfan Pathan emphasized the absence of Rohit Sharma from white-ball cricket and anticipated the possibility of such changes in the future, including having different coaches for different formats.

“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 workload management has been done here and that is why you are seeing such big squads and different captains,” Irfan told Star Sports.

“It’s clear that Rohit Sharma had to take a break from white-ball cricket, so you are not seeing him there. 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.

We Generally Have All-Format Players – Irfan Pathan

The cricketer-turned-commentator emphasized the advantage of having the same captain and coach, stating that most players, such as Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill, play in all three formats.

“If we see white-ball and red-ball cricket, we only have two or three players who are different, where you can consider players like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. However, if you see other than that, we generally have all-format players,” Pathan further added.

“If we talk about our youngsters, you will see Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill playing everywhere. So most of our players are like that, who play all formats. That’s why if you have 70 to 80% players who play all formats, it’s better if the coach and captain are also same.”

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