Irfan Pathan claims Rohit-Virat's absence won't make any difference in England: 'If a new guy gives average of...'

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have announced their retirements from the Test format (BCCI Photo)

Shubman Gill-led Team India are all set for their first assignment post the retirements of batting stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from the Test format. The premier batters announced their retirement from the format midway during the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) and many argued it would leave a huge void in India's batting line-up.

Whether this will be the case or not, fans will get an answer when the first Test out of the five against England starts from Friday in Leeds. A rather inexperienced batting line-up will be seen tackling the Dukes ball in English conditions, which has a reputation of assisting the bowlers.

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Meanwhile, ex-India all-rounder Irfan Pathan also feels that the absence of Virat and Rohit in England will not make much of a difference. The forms of both the players declined, as witnessed in the last two Test series against New Zealand (at home) and Australia (Down Under). Pathan presented the same argument and mentioned if a new comer provides "an average of 20-25, he has done the work of Kohli's level".

"Everyone believes that the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will make a difference. But I believe that it will not make any difference in terms of performance. Their performances had been missing for the past year and a half,” Irfan Pathan said in a video on his YouTube channel.

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"Both of them are big players, but the performances were not there. So if a new guy gives an average of 20-25, he has done the work of Kohli's level, as he averaged 15 in the first innings in the recent past,” he added.

India failed to qualify for the finals of World Test Championship (WTC) for the first since the introduction of the tournament. The WTC final was recently played between Australia and South Africa at Lord's, which the latter won by five wickets, thus ending a 27-year drought at ICC tournaments.