Virat Kohli deserved support at first, not if the slump lasts for 5 years: Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan, a former all-rounder for India, has justified his criticism of Virat Kohli's subpar performance during the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under. When the 36-year-old made the remarks about him, the cricket player-turned-analyst noted that he had been in a five-year slump. 

The 40-year-old described how Kohli kept getting removed similarly during the five-match series in Australia, either by the wicketkeeper or by being caught behind the wicket in the slip cordon. Regardless of the players' size, he emphasised that the team should always come first.

Given his prior contributions, the former Indian cricket player feels that Virat Kohli earned support during his initial downturn in form. However, he claims that the team suffered as a result of his ongoing support during a subsequent career collapse.

Between 2016 and 2019, Kohli dominated Test cricket, amassing 4,208 runs at an average of 66.79 in 43 games, including 10 fifties and 16 hundreds. While leading India as captain at this time, he also made a name for himself as one of the world's top batters.

But in the years that followed, his form started to deteriorate. In sharp contrast to his best years, Kohli missed three Test centuries between 2020 and 2022. Pathan maintained that tolerance shouldn't have been extended across a few years, but he did say that Kohli deserved assistance when the slump started.

He mentioned, "Virat Kohli had a slump in 2019-2020. You can see my social media of that time — I backed Kohli a lot. 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."

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