Irfan Pathan's Virat Kohli Criticism: Career-Ending Commentary Controversy?

Irfan Pathan Criticises Virat Kohli's Technique: A video shows Irfan Pathan critiquing Virat Kohli's batting technique. Kohli, after scoring a century in the first Test of the Australia tour, subsequently underperformed significantly.

Before the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, the broadcast partner released its commentary panel list, notably excluding former Team India all-rounder Irfan Pathan. After retiring from international cricket, Pathan continued playing in the IPL and, upon retirement from the IPL, participated in other T20 leagues and commentated. He was seen commentating in Hindi and English during the previous IPL season, but this time he has been dropped from the commentary panel. Media reports claim that he made personal comments about players, leading to complaints and his subsequent removal.

User Makes a Significant Claim

Irfan Pathan played a significant role in discovering the Pandya brothers. He is among those cricketers who openly speak the truth to improve the future of Indian cricket. Perhaps this outspokenness during commentary displeased someone. However, Pathan has never been known to comment on anyone's personal life. Nevertheless, a user on X shared a video from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series between India and Australia on social media, claiming it to be the reason for Irfan's exclusion from the commentary panel.

The user wrote, “This is the commentary video that led to Irfan Pathan's exclusion from the IPL commentary team. Irfan Pathan has become a victim of the politics within the game. He is considered close to Gautam Gambhir, who has frequent disagreements with several cricketers. There were complaints about Pathan's commentary, stating that he sometimes offered sharp criticism. But which commentator doesn't offer criticism? Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Kapil Dev… all commentators have criticised and praised players from time to time. So who was removed?”

The video shows Irfan Pathan criticising Virat Kohli's technique. After scoring a century in the first Test of the Australia tour, Virat Kohli had a significant slump in form, repeatedly getting out trying to play balls that went past his stumps. This was criticised not only by Irfan but also by commentators like Sunil Gavaskar and Sanjay Manjrekar. While Patrika.com does not confirm the veracity of this claim, it is true that Irfan Pathan is not part of the commentary panel and was removed for his comments about players.