Irfan Pathan explains exactly why India should avoid split captaincy: 'I am not a big fan'

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Irfan Patan has explained the exact reason why India should not opt for split captaincy ahead of the team's all-format tour of South Africa which starts with the first T20I in Durban on December 10.

With Rohit Sharma opting to take a break from white-ball cricket after India's defeat in the final of the World Cup 2023, Suryakumar Yadav has been named the T20I captain, while KL Rahul will lead the Men in Blue in ODI format. Rohit Sharma would return to lead India in the 2-Test series.

Head coach Rahul Dravid has also taken a break despite his contract being renewed by the BCCI. VVS Laxman is currently stepping in for him in the ongoing 5-match T20I series against Australia.

"This could be a sign for the future, which I am not a big fan of. There has been talk for a long time about whether we can do split captaincy. It's true workload management has been done here, and that is why you are seeing such big squads and different captains,” Pathan said during a discussion on the Star Sports show Game Plan.

"It's clear that Rohit Sharma had to take a break from white-ball cricket, so you are not seeing him there. You are seeing him as the captain of Test cricket. However, you might see these things going forward. You might even see different coaches for different formats. I believe it's better if it doesn't happen in our culture,” Pathan said.

Irfan Pathan explains exactly why India India should avoid split captaincy

Further, Irfan Pathan explained why split captaincy was not needed for the Indian cricket team. He said most of the India players play all the three formats and therefore it was better to have the same captain and coach across all the three formats.

“If we see white-ball and red-ball cricket, we only have two or three players who are different, where you can consider players like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. However, if you see other than that, we generally have all-format players.

"If we talk about our youngsters, you will see Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill playing everywhere. So most of our players are like that, who play all formats. That’s why if you have 70 to 80% players who play all formats, it’s better if the coach and captain are also the same," he added.