Irfan Pathan, who recently retired from all forms of the game, made it clear that blaming Greg Chappell for his shorten career was not fair. Pathan also added that he never lost his swing under the tutelage of the former coach. The all-rounder said that he grew in confidence when he was promoted in the batting order and given the opportunity to get crucial runs for the team.
On the other hand, Greg Chappell who grabbed controversial headlines under his tenure as head coach of the Indian team said Irfan Pathan was courageous and selfless in his approach. Chappell added that Irfan Pathan was a team man and did everything to deliver the goods for the team.
Pathan was a team player.
The former Australian captain added Pathan’s hat-trick was the highlight of his career. Pathan scalped three wickets in his first over and got the better of Salman Butt, Younis Khan, and Mohammad Yousuf.
“Irfan was happy to play whatever role the team required. He was both courageous and selfless,” Chappell told TOI from Brisbane on Monday. “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.
Pathan had an illustrious career as he snared 301 International wickets. The left-arm pacer came up with a fine performance in the final of the T20 World Cup 2007 as he took three wickets for 16 runs.
On the other hand, Greg Chappell served as the head coach of the Indian team in the tumultuous time from 2005 to 2007. India was knocked out from the 2007 World Cup and then Chappell was severely criticized.