Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has put his weight behind the veteran duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to bounce back to form in the upcoming Champions Trophy. While Kohli scored 190 runs in five Test matches against Australia at an average of 23.75, Rohit managed only 31 runs in five innings at 6.20. 

Kohli was dismissed caught behind on eight occasions in nine innings whereas Rohit looked short of confidence with the bat. 

However, Pathan noted that Kohli and Rohit are giants of the ODI format and they would be back at their best in the 50-over version.

“They’ll start scoring runs in white-ball cricket; there’s no doubt about that. Test cricket is a different ball game altogether. Adjustments are needed, whether it’s Virat managing deliveries outside the off-stump or Rohit finding his rhythm. ODI is their favorite format, and they’ll bounce back strongly,” Irfan Pathan said [quoted by Hindustan Times].

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma was dismissed for only three runs while playing for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy clash against Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. Pathan doesn’t want Rohit to play in a couple of matches in the domestic tournament just for the sake of it.

“It’s about playing domestic cricket but do not play a couple of matches just for the sake of it and show that you’ve played. Playing regularly benefits both players and Indian cricket. For young players, competing against the likes of Kohli or Rohit at the domestic level can be a tremendous confidence boost as they would also raise their levels to bowl to them. Ultimately, Indian cricket gains from this,” said Pathan.

The Rohit Sharma-led team will open their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh on February 20 at the Dubai International Stadium. 

India squad for the Champions Trophy: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah*, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal