Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has spoken about the controversy after his interview with Rohit Sharma during the 2025 Test series in Australia.
At that time, Rohit Sharma was going through a very bad patch in Test cricket. His performance in the 2024-25 series was very poor. He scored only 164 runs in the matches he played, with an average of just 6.20. This was the lowest average by any visiting captain in Australia who played at least five innings.
Rohit had already missed the first Test of the series and played in three matches before deciding to skip the last and final Test in Sydney. He said it was his own decision to step aside, and Jasprit Bumrah took over as captain for that match.
The interview between Irfan Pathan and Rohit Sharma took place in Sydney after Rohit decided not to play the fifth Test. Some fans who watched the interview felt that the broadcasters and Pathan were giving Rohit too much support despite his poor form. Many people thought they were defending him instead of asking tough questions.
Irfan Pathan has now explained what really happened. He said that when a cricketer comes to a TV channel for an interview, it is the job of the broadcasters to treat them with respect.
Being polite and respectful does not mean that they were supporting Rohit’s position in the team. Pathan said, “People say we supported Rohit Sharma too much, but when someone is your guest, you talk to them politely. That’s just normal behaviour. It doesn’t mean we thought he should keep his place in the team.”
Pathan also openly admitted that going by performance alone, Rohit would not have been in the Test playing XI that year if he was not the captain. In his words, “Rohit Sharma is a great white-ball player, but that year his Test average was 6.
If he was not the captain, he would not have been in the team. That is the truth.” He added that although they told Rohit to keep fighting, they were also clear that his form was not good enough for selection.
After that series in Australia, Rohit Sharma decided to retire from Test cricket before India’s next tour to England. Virat Kohli also retired from Test cricket shortly after. Rohit played 67 Test matches in his career, scoring 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57, including 12 centuries and 18 half-centuries. His highest Test score was 212 against South Africa in 2019.