India captain Rohit Sharma is open to the prospect of playing a bilateral Test series against Pakistan at a neutral venue. India and Pakistan have not faced off in a Test since 2007. Instead, they play only occasionally in the shorter versions of the game and usually on neutral territory in international tournaments like the World Cup, Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup.

Cricketing ties between the two countries have been stopped since 2008. Pakistan did tour India for a white-ball series in 2012-13 but since then their meetings have been limited to ICC events and Asia Cups.

Rohit appeared Thursday on a YouTube chat show hosted by former captains Adam Gilchrist of Australia and Michael Vaughan of England.

Asked by Vaughan if playing Pakistan in a Test series would be beneficial for the five-day game, Rohit said: "I totally believe that."

"They are a good team, superb bowling line-up, good contest. Especially if you play in overseas conditions, that will be awesome," added the 36-year-old.

"I would love to. It would be a great contest between two sides... so why not?"

Australia has said it would be prepared to host a series between the rivals.

India and Pakistan have not faced each other on either side's soil in a bilateral series since 2012.

India last year refused to travel to Pakistan for the white-ball Asia Cup, prompting part of the tournament to be staged in Sri Lanka.

They last met at the 50-over World Cup in India in October.

Rohit not a fan of Impact Player in IPL

Rohit also spoke about the Impact Player rule in the IPL, which was introduced in 2023.

"Eventually, cricket is played by 11 players not 12 players. I am not a big fan of 'Impact Player', you are taking out so much from the game just because of a little bit of entertainment, for people around," he pointed out.

"...I can give you so many examples, guys like Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube are not getting to bowl. For us (the Indian team), it is not a good thing you know. I don't know what you can do about it but I am not a fan of it, frankly speaking," he said.

"It is entertaining because there are 12 players, whoever the impact player is, you can change a player later seeing how the game goes, depending on how the pitch is behaving."

"If you bat well, don't lose wickets, you can add another bowler, you have 6-7 bowlers and you don't need an extra batter if teams are batting well upfront. You hardly see a no.7 or 8 coming in to bat," he said.

(With agency inputs)

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