Irfan Pathan Was A Selfless Cricketer: Greg Chappell

It would not be entirely wrong to say that Irfan Pathan enjoyed the most productive phase of his international career between 2005 and 2007 when Greg Chappell was the coach of the side. In those couple of years, Irfan Pathan emerged as a talented allrounder and started drawing comparisons with the legendary Kapil Dev.

Greg Chappell never shied away from promoting Irfan Pathan in the batting order and the latter rarely disappointed in addition to continuing his fine work with the ball. He was the leader of India’s pace attack when Greg Chappell was at the helm. Between 2005 and 2007, Irfan Pathan picked up 53 wickets in just 16 Tests. With the bat, he scored an impressive four fifties and one century.

But that productive period did not last long and the former India allrounder soon lost his prodigious swing. He soon lost his place in the Test side and did not play a Test after the Ahmedabad clash against South Africa in April 2008. Last week, the allrounder announced his retirement from all forms of game.

While announcing his retirement, he clarified that blaming Greg Chappell for his downfall was a “cover-up” and the only time he got to bat up high in the order was when Rahul Dravid was the captain.

Greg Chappell on Irfan Pathan:

Days after Irfan Pathan’s comments, Greg Chappell has lavished praise on the ex-allrounder, saying that he was a selfless cricketer. The move to use Pathan’s batting skills more was a brainchild of Chappell, who wanted the left-arm seamer to turn into a genuine all-rounder by giving him more responsibility.

“Irfan was happy to play whatever role the team required. He was both courageous and selfless,” Greg Chappell told TOI.

“Irfan proved that he was a very capable all-rounder. Apart from what he did in limited overs cricket, he very nearly scored a Test century (93 vs Sri Lanka at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi). His swing bowling was very good, with the highlight for me being his hat trick in the first over of a Test match against Pakistan in Karachi,” added the former Australian captain.

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