Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has opened up on the story of getting dropped from the team in ODIs by his captain, MS Dhoni, in 2009.
Irfan avoided questioning Dhoni’s call but went on to mention that he was a match-winner at the time and was coming off performances that made him all but undroppable. Pathan said that the head coach, Gary Kirsten, didn't name Dhoni either, and just told him that the decision to not play the all-rounder was out of his hands.
"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," Pathan said in an interview with The Lallantop.
ALSO READ: Will Cristiano Ronaldo Play In India? Al-Nassr Drawn With FC Goa AFC Champions League
"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 the 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."
"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," Pathan added.
ALSO READ: Virender Sehwag Reveals How Sachin Tendulkar Stopped Him From Retiring In 2008
Having become a regular for India at a very young age, Irfan impressed everyone with his aggression, swing, and accuracy. However, his career took an abrupt turn in 2009. Having already been sidelined from the Test side a year earlier, Irfan faced another major blow when he was dropped from the ODI setup after a series against Sri Lanka.
He made his return to the side in 2012, but the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma had staked their claim with consistent performances. The left-arm pacer managed to play just 12 more ODIs during his comeback before his career went downwards ahead of his retirement in 2020.
The all-rounder also recalled how, at that time, all-rounders weren’t as valuable as in the modern era.
"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."
Pathan ended his career with 120 ODIs, where he took 173 wickets and scored over 1500 runs.