Virat Kohli loses support from India teammate in heated debate over retirement
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If there is one analyst who has been vocal on the flaws of Indian cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, it has been none other than Irfan Pathan, the former Indian all-rounder. His latest dig comes as the Indian management has continuously backed Virat Kohli in Test cricket despite a dip in form since 2020.
Indian cricketer Virat Kohli is the green-eyed boy of Indian cricket, and that is due to his undeniable greatness playing for India over the years. Kohli has received all the love and aura with his sheer hard work and determination to win games for India.
Undoubtedly, he is one of the best, or rather the greatest, batters cricket has ever witnessed, since his records speak for him, as the run-machine has some stupendous records under chasing situations for India.
Irfan Pathan's indirect dig at Indian management for constantly backing Virat Kohli's failures
Pathan has recently been way too vocal on Indian cricketers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who have been speculated to retire from the ODI format as well.
However, despite their Test retirement announcement, Pathan has slammed Indian management for unnecessarily backing Kohli in Test cricket over an extended period.
As per the former all-rounder, backing Kohli during his initial slump in form after commendable performances in the past was a good decision, but stretching it over so many years did not seem to be the best decision made by the Indian management.
"Virat Kohli had a slump in 2019-2020. You can see my social media of that time — I backed Kohli a lot," Pathan told Lallantop.
"I feel that when a big player faces his first slump, he should be backed. He deserves it too, because he won many matches for the team. But if this slump lasts for five years, then it is not right. In the end, the team is the most important," he added.
Unlike Rohit Sharma, who performed very well since the start of the WTC and was India's highest scorer in the competition, he only started to fail over the last year. Virat Kohli's failures date back to 2020. Kohli, who scored 4208 runs, averaging 66.79 with 16 centuries between 2016 and 2019, did not score a single hundred from 2020 to 2022.
His form further dipped from 2024 to 2025, when the Indian batter struggled against Bangladesh, the New Zealand side at home, and then against Australia in the BGT.
Pathan recognizes Virat Kohli's biggest flaw in Test cricket
Alongside slamming the Indian management for extended support for Kohli, he has also identified that the management, or even Kohli, paid no heed to his frequent dismissals outside the off-stump, which was a major technical flaw the batsman should have addressed early.
"When a player gets out in the same way, the opposing team will get you out with Plan A itself. They will not need to go to Plan B. It is the job of a champion player to take you from Plan A to Plan B," he explained.
"The problem with Virat Kohli in Test cricket was that he was getting out in the same manner continuously. This does not mean that he is a bad player. He is a great player. But what is happening is also true. We have to tell what is happening, with details," he concluded.
Kohli faced a serious dip in form before announcing his retirement from red-ball cricket
The legendary Indian Test cricketer and India's greatest ever Test captain, Virat Kohli, had serious trouble scoring, getting just 4 hundreds over the last 5 years in international cricket.
Even in his final Test series, he repeatedly fell to the seam movement, particularly to the deliveries that were pitched far outside the off-stump. Amid the pressure of scoring runs, when Kohli's average dipped below 30 for the first time in his career, Kohli finally followed in the footsteps of his captain to announce his Test retirement.
However, the Indian legend would remain as one of the most iconic cricketers in the format, going down with 9230 runs in 123 Test matches and 30 hundreds to his name.
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