"Remove Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin"- Pakistan veteran before IND vs AUS Tests

India's embarrassing defeat to New Zealand has led to some unprecedented criticism for the players. The senior players of the team Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been at the front of this criticism due to their poor form in this series.

Both the stalwarts have been even asked to retire after a highly disappointing performance against New Zealand where both of them could not even score 100 runs individually in three Tests. However, former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has backed both of them to come back to form.

While Basit did not like the fans asking Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to retire, he claimed that the lack of match practice has left Rohit and Virat in poor form. He feels that both of them should have played domestic cricket before the start of the Test season.

Also read: "Rahul Dravid has a better mind compared to Gautam Gambhir"- Former Pakistan legend

Basit Ali backs Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

While speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, Basit Ali spoke about the performance of India's senior players Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Basit backed Rohit and Kohli and claimed there is still no alternate players to replace them yet as both of them are high-quality players.

"What they are talking about now is remove Virat (Kohli), remove Rohit (Sharma), remove (Ravichandran) Ashwin. Do you have any players of their quality? Will you bring Abhishek Sharma, a T20 player? Tell me," Basit argued.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin have served Indian cricket for a long time and have won numerous games for India with their high-class performances. However, they did not have a great time in the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand.

It's very rare that these players fail to perform together. However, none of them had a great time which was one of the reasons for India's poor performance in this series.

"There's a lack of match practice" - Basit Ali on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

While Rohit and Kohli found backing from Basit Ali, the former Pakistan batter reasoned the lack of match practice for their diminishing returns. He cited the example of the failure of Pakistan's cricketers and requested the Indian fans not to disrespect their favorite cricketers.

"There's a lack of match practice, for both Virat and Rohit. They need matches. Let them play on flat tracks so that they stay on the wicket for at least two sessions," said the 53-year-old Basit.

"Apne heroes ko zeroes mat banao? We (in Pakistan) talk against Babar Azam, Shan Masood, and Mohammad Rizwan; but we don't say that they should be out of the team. They will come back to form," Basit added.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli against New Zealand

Rohit scored 91 runs in three Tests against New Zealand at an average of 15.16. On the other hand, Kohli scored 93 runs at an average of 15.50. Both the batters had low-key returns in the Tests against Bangladesh as well.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will next play the five-match Test series against Bangladesh in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The series will be huge as it can determine their respective futures in Test cricket.