Irfan Pathan, responding to claims that he lost his ability to swing the ball under then India head coach Greg Chappell, said that this had been a ‘cover-up’ to explain his non-inclusion from the national team.
Pathan, who was 27 when he last made an India appearance, said on Saturday, “Most players start their India career at 27-28 but I ended up playing my last game at that stage”.
Responding to questions on Chappell and his former captains, Pathan said on Sunday, “All these discussions…people talking about Greg Chappell they are just covering up. (The discussion that) Irfan was not interested, it was coming from somewhere. All the aura they made that Irfan lost his swing, people need to understand, that you are not going to get the same kind of swing that you get in 10 overs.. I was still getting the swing.”
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“People talk about my performance, but my job was different. I was given job to contain because I was bowling first change. I had been told this is your job. I remember getting dropped after winning the game in Sri Lanka in 2008, who gets dropped after winning the game for the country without any reason?” Pathan told PTI.
He also praised his former captains Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble.
“When I came into the Indian team, Ganguly knew I could do well with the new ball in Australia. He eventually gave me the confidence. I think that was the start,” he said.
“When Dravid became the captain, he utilised my potential one step ahead. (He) used me higher in the batting order (when) besides bowling with the new ball,” he said.
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“Anil bhai was the kind of senior I was lucky to have alongside Sachin paaji (Tendulkar), who always gave me the right advice,” he added.
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