"It's better if it doesn't happen in our culture" - Irfan Pathan on India having a separate captain for each format in IND vs SA series

Irfan Pathan is not in favor of the Indian cricket team having separate captains across different formats.

The selectors recently picked the Indian squads for the upcoming multi-format tour of South Africa. While Rohit Sharma will captain the Test side, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav will lead in the ODI and T20I series respectively.

During a discussion on the Star Sports show Game Plan, Pathan was asked about his thoughts on India having a separate captain for each format, to which he responded:

"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."

The former India all-rounder added:

"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 for 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 opined that the Indian culture is different from the Australian or the South African ones, where such things happen consistently. He added that the Indian wagon remains on track if there is only one engine, with all the bogeys behind it.

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"If we see white-ball and red-ball cricket, we only have two or three players who are different" - Irfan Pathan

Test specialists Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have been ignored for the South Africa tour.

Citing Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane as exceptions, Irfan Pathan pointed out that India do not have too many format-specific players. He elaborated:

"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."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that having the same captain and coach will hold India in good stead as new-generation players like Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill also play all three formats. He said:

"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 same."

Rahul Dravid has been retained as India's head coach across all formats. While Rohit Sharma has been named as the Test skipper for the South Africa tour, there is no clarity yet about whether he will lead the Men in Blue in the two white-ball formats going forward.