‘You need to improve yourself’: Ex-India star gives BRUTAL reminder to Virat Kohli amid retirement rumours

Indian team’s defeat in the fifth Border-Gavaskar series Test against Australia in Sydney not only saw them lose the series by 3-1 but also crushed their hopes of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final for the third consecutive time.

One of the main reasons why the Men in Blue slumped to the series defeat was star player Virat Kohli’s flop show with the bat in almost all the 5 matches.

While analyzing India’s defeat, former cricketer Irfan Pathan minced no words and brutally criticized Kohli, highlighting his disappointing numbers with the bat while questioning his place in the team. He also said that a youngster can contribute the same number of runs that Virat is currently giving to the team.

“In 2024, in the first innings, where the match is set, Virat Kohli only averages 15. Over the last 5 years, he doesn’t even average 30. Does the Indian team deserve this from a senior player? Instead of this, give a youngster consistent rope, even he can give an average of 25-30. It’s not about an individual, it’s about the team,” Pathan said on Star Sports.

Pathan believes that the ‘superstar culture’ within the Indian team needs to be brought to an end and wants team culture to prevail. He also questioned why Kohli hasn’t played domestic cricket in a long time, whereas even an all-time great like Sachin Tendulkar did when he was out of form.

“We need to end superstar culture, we need team culture. You need to improve yourself and improve the Indian team. There were matches before this series, too, and they had an opportunity to play domestic cricket, but they didn’t. We need to change that culture,” Pathan said.

“When was the last time Virat Kohli played domestic cricket? It has been more than a decade. Even Sachin Tendulkar has played domestic cricket more recently, and he has retired,” Pathan added.

“We are not degrading Virat Kohli. He has scored a lot of runs and played superbly for India, but you are repeating the same mistake again and again. Sunny sir (Sunil Gavaskar) has pointed it out, and he is here at the ground. How long does it take to come to Sunny sir and talk about that mistake? It takes hard work to rectify that mistake, and I didn’t see any of that,” Pathan further said.

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