Former India bowler Irfan Pathan has said that he did not get the right kind of backing from the captain and selectors after he was asked to bowl at the first change.
Irfan Pathan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket earlier this year. His last ODI and T20I appearance came in 2012. Pathan was considered among the best swing bowlers during the early stage of his career, however, his career ended in a manner which he, and many others, would not have thought of.
In an interview with Sports Tak, Irfan talked about not getting selected into the team post the 2012-13 season.
“I feel like if an opener is asked to bat at No. 7 then there will be a difference in his number. Just take an example of Chris Gayle. He if bats at No. 7 then he will not get to bat in 3-4 matches, he will get out early on in some matches and in others, he will get a chance to bat only for 5-6 overs,” Irfan said.
“So now it is the captain’s role to back him because you had only changed his role. So I think, I did not get the backing there. I had Man-of-the-Match in my last ODI, last T20I. People who say, I wasn’t getting the swing need to know that I was bowling first change. So the role was changed,” he added.
“I remember, Wriddhiman Saha made it to the Indian team without playing cricket for a year. Rishabh Pant had hit a 200 in Saha’s absence, but still, Saha was recalled. So, some players are backed, some are not, some are fortunate and I was among the unfortunate ones.”
Irfan Pathan also said that he once also had a conversation with then team captain, MS Dhoni, about his form when he had heard in media that MS Dhoni had said Pathan did not bowl well during the 2008 Australia series.
“I had talked to Mahi about it. I also talked to him about the statement he made about me during the 2008 Australia series that Irfan wasn’t bowling well. So I asked him that I was bowling well in the whole series, so I asked him for clarification and what could I do to get better.”
“I remember getting dropped after winning the game in Sri Lanka in 2008, who gets dropped after winning the game for the country. Which match-winner is made to sit outside, but I did.” he questioned.
Irfan Pathan picked up a Test hat-trick in Pakistan in 2006 and still remains the only bowler to do so in the very over of a match. He was also awarded the Man of the Match when India beat Pakistan to lift the T20 World Cup in 2007.
Pathan featured in 29 Tests (1105 runs and 100 wickets), 120 ODIs (1544 runs and 173 wickets) and 24 T20 Internationals (172 runs and 28 wickets).
