Irfan Pathan has narrated the tale of his ouster from the Indian team, recalling how former captain MS Dhoni forced him out of the team in spite of him performing well and winning games for the side. Irfan, who first burst on to the international stage as an 18-year-old, made his India debut during a Test against Australia in 2003. Known for his swing and accuracy, Irfan not only established himself as proven wicket-taker across formats, but also caught the eye with his aggressive batting.
Irfan was part of the team that won the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa, under the leadership of Dhoni.
A couple of years on from that historic triumph, Irfan’s career hit a roadblock, but it was not due to his performance.
“It was back in 2009, when we were in New Zealand. Before that, my brother (Yusuf Pathan) and I had won matches in Sri Lanka. The situation in which we had pulled a win – if it had been anyone else in our place, they wouldn’t have been dropped for a year. In that match against Sri Lanka, we needed 60 runs from just 27-28 balls, and we won it from there,” Irfan told TheLallantop.
The 40-year-old recalled the scenes from the tour of New Zealand in 2009, where he was dropped for four of the five ODIs, while the other game was washed out due to rain. He was not part of the Test squad, and only featured in two T20Is during the lengthy tour.
“In New Zealand, I was benched for the first match, the second match, and the third match as well. The fourth match was a draw because of rain. I wasn’t in the final match either. Then I asked Gary sir why I had been dropped. If there was something I needed to improve, he could tell me, but I wanted to know the reason I was left out,” he added.
Irfan also revealed his conversation with the then head coach Gary Kirsten, who gave him two major reasons behind him being dropped from the team.
Irfan admitted that his conversation with Kirsten made it more clear to him that it was Dhoni who was calling the shots and didn’t need him in the team.
“Kirsten gave me two reasons. He said, ‘There are things that are not in my hand.’ Those were Gary’s exact words. I asked whose hands it was in, but he didn’t tell me. I already knew whose hands it was in. The playing XI is decided by the captain’s choice. The decision rests with the captain, coach, and management. Dhoni was the captain at that time. I won’t get into whether that decision was right or wrong, because every captain has the right to run the team in his own way,” said Pathan.
“The second answer was that they were looking for a batting all-rounder at No. 7. Fair enough – my brother was a batting all-rounder, while I was a bowling all-rounder. The two were different from each other, but there was only room for one in the team. Nowadays, if you ask whether two all-rounders are needed, people would gladly take both,” he added