Former India All-Rounder Irfan Pathan Talks About Career End and Captain’s Influence on Playing XI

Former cricketer Irfan Pathan was a boon for the Indian cricket team as the team lacked good fast bowlers and all-rounders at that time. He could open the bowling and bat at different positions, which kept him in the team consistently between 2004 and 2009. However, with the emergence of new players, the Baroda cricketer lost his place in the national team.

Irfan said that despite his excellent performance and contribution to the team, he was dropped from the Indian team. The cricketer candidly claimed that after a performance like his, the selectors would not have dropped anyone else from the team for at least a year. He also tried to talk to the then head coach Gary Kirsten about not being selected in the playing eleven, but the answer was not satisfactory.

If it was someone else in our place, he would not have been dropped for a year: Irfan

“I was dropped from the team in 2009, when we were in New Zealand. Before that, my brother (Yusuf Pathan) and I won matches in Sri Lanka. The situation in which we won – if there was someone else in our place, he would not have been dropped from the team for a year. In that match against Sri Lanka, we needed 60 runs in just 27-28 balls, and we won from there,” he said in an interview to The Lallantop.

He further said, “In New Zealand, I was benched in the first match, second match and third match as well. The fourth match was drawn due to rain. I was not even in the last match. Then I asked Gary sir why I was dropped. If I needed to improve something, he could have told me, but I wanted to know why I was dropped.”

Playing XI is decided by the captain’s choice

“Kirsten told me two reasons. He said, ‘Some things are not in my hands.’ Gary’s words were exactly the same. I asked in whose hands it was, but he did not tell me anything. I already knew in whose hands it was. Playing XI is decided by the captain’s choice. I will not get into whether that decision was right or wrong, because every captain has the right to run the team in his own way.

“The second answer was that they were looking for a batting all-rounder at number seven. Well, my brother was a batting all-rounder, while I was a bowling all-rounder. Both were different from each other, but there was room for only one in the team. Nowadays, if you ask if two all-rounders are necessary, people will happily take both,” Irfan pointed out.