Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan went on to clarify his controversial batting position during the tenure of Grega Chappell as the Indian head coach was actually the idea of Sachin Tendulkar as the latter thought of sending Pathan at No. 3. India experimented with Irfan Pathan at No. 3 for a little while under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy, but it wasn’t the video of the coach or the captain.
Tendulkar told Dravid to send Pathan at No. 3 because of his big-hitting ability, a move that failed in the long run. Pathan batted 18 times at No. 3 between 2005 and 2008, scoring 487 runs at 28.64 with three half-centuries.
Talking about the same to Raunak Kapoor, Irfan said, “I had said this after I had announced my retirement as well. Those who talk about Greg Chappell spoiling my career, by sending me as an allrounder at No.3 and all these things actually, it was Sachin paaji’s idea. He advised Rahul Dravid to send me at No.3. He said ‘he (Irfan) has the power to hit sixes, can take on the new ball, and can play the fast bowlers well too.”
ALSO READ: Irfan Pathan Reckons Rohit And Shikhar Understand Each Other
He further added, “It was tried for the first time in the series against Sri Lanka when Muralitharan was at his peak, and the idea was to attack him as well. Batsmen didn’t understand that too well, so the belief was if I could pull it off, it could work in our favor. It’s not true that Greg Chappell spoiled my career. Since he was not from India, it is easier to make him a punching bag.”
Irfan Pathan announced his retirement from international cricket earlier this year, 8 years after he played his last match for India even before he turned 28. He made his debut at 19 and was touted to be the next Kapil Dev after showing impressive skills with the ball and bat but inconsistency and frequent experiments with his batting position led to Pathan’s downfall.
Pathan made some changes in his bowling action which ultimately resulted in him losing the ability to swing the ball as much as he used to in the initial days of his career. By his own admission, Pathan feels he could have achieved a lot more and become India’s best all-rounder in ODIs had he been given more chances in the second part of his career.
ALSO READ: AB de Villiers Picks Virat And Rohit In His IPL All-time XI
In a recent interview, Irfan had said that he could’ve been an asset for the Indian Indian in ODIs, but it didn’t happned as he didn’t play as much cricket internationally after playing hos last game for India at the age of 27.
