Irfan Pathan Reveals Only Regret After Calling It Quits From All Forms Of Cricket
Published - 05 Jan 2020, 01:22 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:03 AM
Irfan Pathan called it quits from all forms of cricket on Saturday. With a career spanning over 19 years, he has been an important part of Indian cricket history. His cricketing career was marred by injuries at some point of time and also had form issues. He ended up playing only 29 Test matches in his career where he scored 1105 runs and picked 100 wickets.
In his last 3 appearances, he was named the man of the match in 2008 when he performed well with bat and ball, thus helping India to a sensational win in Perth. However, he still doesn’t know why he was sidelined from Tests shortly after that performance at the WACA.
Former India all-rounder hit the peak performance when he dismissed Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf in a row to bag a terrific hat-trick in 2006 Karachi Test. He also bowled a match-winning spell in the ODI series decider in Lahore and then earned the man-of-the-match award at the 2007 World T20 final in Johannesburg.
Irfan Pathan reveals only regret in his career:
Former India all-rounder said the only regret he had was not playing more games for India. He also highlighted that at the age of 27-28, when people begin their careers and play till the age of 35, his career came to an end when he already had as many as 301 international wickets when he was only 27 years old.
“People start their career when they are 27-28 and then go on to play till 35. When I was 27, I had taken 301 international wickets, so that was it. That is the only regret I have,” said 35-year-old Irfan Pathan.
Pathan represented India in 120 ODIs (1544 runs and 173 wickets) and 24 T20 Internationals (172 runs and 28 wickets). Pathan suddenly gained game with an incredible 9 for 16 against Bangladesh in a U-19 match in Pakistan. He was then roped into the Indian side for the Australia tour later that year in 2002.
Pathan made his Test debut in the 2nd match and troubled the likes of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist. Irfan Pathan said that he should have got more opportunities but it did not happen. “I wish I would have played more and could have taken that tally to 500-600 wickets and scored more runs, but it did not happen.
A 27-year-old Irfan Pathan, at the peak of his career, should have got more opportunities but it did not happen for whatever reasons. No complaints but looking back, there is regret,” he added.