Irfan Pathan, the former India all-rounder, has opened up on the backlash that he has faced for criticising Virat Kohli during his tough time in Test cricket.

After a disappointing performance with the bat in the Border-Gavaskar series during the Australia tour, Kohli decided to put an end to his Test career. The star batter managed to score only 190 runs across 9 innings despite a century in the five-match series, which India lost 1-3. 

What made it all even annoying was that the mode of Kohli's dismissals was similar in the majority of the innings. While speaking on The Lallantop's show Guest in the Newsroom, Pathan pointed out that the poor form of Kohli continued for a long time.

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"If you look at my social media, there was Virat Kohli's slump in 2019-20. At that time, it was said that it was the time of COVID, and he wasn't getting inspiration. I thought that when a player of big stature undergoes their first slump, then they should be backed. If you look at my social media, I backed him a lot. One, he deserved it, and won a lot of matches. If the slump continues for five years, then it's not right," Pathan said.

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"Eventually, the team has to be at the top. Team is No. 1; we play for the team, we play to win games. If a batsman gets out in a similar manner, the opposition team plans accordingly. They won't go to plan B. They will get you out using plan A. If you're a champion player, then you've to take them from plan A to plan B. The problem with Virat in Test cricket was that he was getting out similarly every now and then. That doesn't mean he's a bad player; he's a champion player, but it's happening. You've to explain what you are seeing in detail," he added.

Virat was at the peak of his batting prowess from 2015 to 2019 across formats before witnessing a massive dip in the coming few years, especially in Test cricket. Virat had 27 Test centuries in 2020, but he managed to score only three in the subsequent period, with one in the West Indies and two against Australia. His average also saw a massive decline.

The former Indian skipper ended his Test career with 9230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, on the back of 30 centuries and 31 fifties.