If Rohit Sharma can conquer South Africa, his name will...: Irfan Pathan

NEW DELHI: Former India pacer Irfan Pathan said that Rohit Sharma's name will create cricketing history and he will be counted among the top-most players and captains of India if he is able to win the Test series against South Africa. Speaking on Star Sports, Pathan said that Rohit will play a pivotal role during India's upcoming matches against South Africa since he is both the skipper and an opener.

The former speedster said that if the 36-year-old can play the new ball without any difficulty then it would be easier for other batters.

"If Rohit Sharma is able to conquer South Africa, his name will be kept top-most in India's cricket history as captain and player because he only has the key to wins in both these matches. He is both an opener and a captain. If you play out the new ball, your other batters will get the chance to shine. That's why you should remove the shine from the new ball," Pathan said.

Talking about the challenges Rohit would face in the upcoming Test series, Pathan said that he will wear many hats.

"He went fully prepared and batted amazingly in the Test series when he went to England. I feel you will see Rohit Sharma preparing with the same passion before he goes. Rohit's challenge will be to play out the new ball, score his runs and take his team forward. He is going to wear a lot of hats and only the most experienced player in your team is capable of wearing so many hats. We have two big brothers in this team - Rohit and Virat Kohli. There will be a lot of dependency on both of them," he added.

The all-format tour of South Africa started on December 10 with a three-match T20I series which will go on till December 14. From December 17, the ODI leg of the series will start which will conclude on December 21. The first Test match will be played on December 26 at Centurion and the second game will take place on January 3 at Cape Town.

India's squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (Wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna. India's squad for 3

T20Is: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (Wk), Jitesh Sharma (Wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.

India's squad for 3 ODIs: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C) (Wk), Sanju Samson (Wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar.