Irfan Pathan Reveals The Name Of Indian Captain Under Whom He Enjoyed Most

The 35-year-old former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan, who played 173 international matches between 2003 and 2012, has recently revealed the name of the Indian captain under whom he enjoyed the most.

Irfan Pathan made his international debut as a skilful left-arm pacer, who had the impressive ability to defeat the top-class batting line up with his incredible swing deliveries. But gradually, the left-handed batsman developed his batting quality and evolved as an effective all-rounder.

In his nine years of international career, Irfan saw many ups and downs, but he has played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is. The all-rounder played under six different captains during his entire international career.

Here is the list of the Indian captains under whom Irfan Pathan played the international matches.

I enjoyed thoroughly during Rahul Dravid’s captaincy: Irfan Pathan

Irfan made his international debut under Sourav Ganguly‘s captaincy, and he played the maximum international matches under MS Dhoni‘s captaincy. When Dhoni-led India won the ICC World T20 2007, Irfan was a crucial member of that team, and the all-rounder also won the Player of the Match award in the final of that tournament.

Praising both those captains, Irfan felt that Anil Kumble should have led the Indian team for a longer period. But the all-rounder claimed that he fully enjoyed during Rahul Dravid’s leadership due to his clear communication about the role.

Irfan told Sports Tak, “It’s a tough pick but I would like to go with Rahul Dravid. Dada was my first captain, Dada backed me throughout. Anil Kumble could have led for a longer period, unfortunately, that did not happen. Achievement-wise, nobody can be compared to MS Dhoni. But I enjoyed thoroughly during Dravid’s captaincy, the reason being the communication about the role was very clear. He clearly defined my role as a captain.”

Irfan also feels that Dravid was an underrated Indian captain. Talking about this, Irfan also mentioned Dravid-led Indian team’s record of winning consecutive ODI matches while chasing.

Irfan added, “Dravid’s captaincy is not much talked about but there was a phase when we won 14-16 matches while chasing under his leadership which was also a world record then.”

Dravid led the Indian team in 104 international matches (2000-2007), out of which, the national team won 50 international games.