The former England captain wonders if Smith is the best man to lead Aussies as Atherton finds him so self-absorbed and seems to exist in his own bubble.
In a scathing assessment of ECB's decision, Atherton said it was worse than India's recent withdrawal from the Manchester Test.
The last time the two sides played a Test series against each other was when Pakistan toured India for a three-match series in 2007/08.
Azhar came under immense scrutiny after Pakistan lost the first Test from a winning position to go 0-1 down in the three-match series.
The Super League was launched by ICC on Monday in a bid to give more importance to the 50-over format.
After being ignored for the series opener against the West Indies in Southampton, the 34-year-old pacer silenced his critics by putting up scintillating performances in the remaining two Tests.
Archer was on Thursday dropped from the second Test against the West Indies for breaking the team's bio-secure protocol and will now undergo two COVID-19 tests during a five-day isolation period.
Rohit has played 5 Test matches as an opener for India and has scored 556 runs in which he hit three centuries which includes his highest Test score - 212.
International cricket is set to resume after the coronavirus hiatus with England scheduled to host the West Indies team in a bio-secure environment for a proposed three-match series in July.
Atherton also believes that the players no longer have something called a personal space due to the social media engagements.
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