Greg Chappell did not have an entirely memorable stint as Team India’s head coach. People blamed him for the problems which crept into the team under his watch. He was also held accountable for the sharp decline in the prowess of Irfan Pathan – a claim which the latter debunked after announcing his retirement.
Chappell also has only good things to say about the all-rounder. “Irfan was happy to play whatever role the team required. He was both courageous and selfless,” Chappell was as quoted by the Times of India.
“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,” he further added.
Pathan was 27 when he made his final appearance in 2012. There was also a time when there was speculation over the left-arm pacer’s intention to play all three formats.
“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,” Pathan told PTI.
