India's focus should be on leaders to prepare after Rohit Sharma: Irfan Pathan

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan stated that India should focus on preparing a new leader after Rohit Sharma in 2024. Rohit, who led the side to the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup final is currently captaining the team in the ongoing Test series against South Africa. Notably, there were speculations that he would not continue to lead the side, including during the much-awaited 2024 T20 World Cup.

Pathan feels that there can be a lot of changes occurring in 2024 and India should prepare two or more players who will be able to replace Rohit. The 39-year-old further spoke about Virat Kohli's leadership skills and his contributions to the side.

"There are chances of a lot of changes in 2024. So if we prepare two or three leaders, we won't have too many problems. The focus should also be on which leaders you will prepare. The Indian team performed amazingly well for five years under Virat Kohli's leadership in Test cricket. They reached the No. 1 ranking. His fitness was fantastic. He performed well in every match and extracted performance from the team in every match. Rohit Sharma also got the team to perform amazingly well. We saw it in the World Cup and he won the Asia Cup but who after Rohit Sharma?" Pathan said during an interaction with Star Sports.

Indian team needs to prepare a good fast-bowling unit in 2024: Irfan Pathan

Irfan went on to say that preparing a good fast-bowling unit will be another area for India to focus on this year. The cricketer-turned-commentator stated that India did not have possible backups in the ongoing Test series, mentioning how Mohammed Shami's absence affected the visitors in the opening game. He added that India will be in trouble if Jasprit Bumrah gets injured.

"I personally feel the Indian team needs to prepare a good fast-bowling unit in 2024. We saw what happened in South Africa. We didn't have very good fully ready backups for fast bowlers. It's not that they don't have quality but they weren't ready, so you felt Mohammed Shami's absence.

"It means, God forbid, if something happens to Jasprit Bumrah, we have seen him getting injured earlier because of his action, we will look left and right and we won't get quality bowlers like that," the former cricketer further said.