Irfan Pathan, the former Indian all-rounder, spoke about being dropped from the ODI team by then-captain MS Dhoni in 2009.
Pathan said he doesn’t question Dhoni’s decision but he felt he was doing well enough to be in the team. He said coach Gary Kirsten didn’t name Dhoni but implied the decision was beyond his control.
This comes after Virender Sehwag shared a similar story of being dropped in 2008, also under Dhoni’s captaincy. Sachin Tendulkar had to stop Sehwag from retiring and he came back to the team after a few months. Pathan waited two years for his recall in 2011, by then the team had started looking at younger bowlers.
In 2009, we were in New Zealand. Before that, my brother Yusuf and I had won matches in Sri Lanka. If anyone else had our place, they wouldn’t have been dropped for a year. In that match against Sri Lanka, we needed 60 runs from about 27-28 balls and we won, Pathan said.
In New Zealand, I sat out the first three matches. The fourth match was a draw due to rain. I wasn’t in the final match either. Then I asked Gary why I was dropped. If I needed to improve, he could tell me but I wanted to know why I was left out,” he added.
Pathan said Kirsten gave him two reasons. The first was due to things that were not in his hands. Pathan knew the decision was made by Dhoni, as the captain has the final say on the team selection.
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“Gary gave me two reasons. He said, ‘There are things that are not in my hand.’ Those were Gary’s words. I asked whose hand it was in but he didn’t tell me. I already knew whose hand it was in. The decision rests with the captain, coach and management. Dhoni was the captain at that time. I won’t say whether that decision was right or wrong because every captain can run the team in his own way,” Pathan explained.
The second reason was that the team wanted a batting all-rounder at No. 7 which was his brother Yusuf.“The second reason was that they wanted a batting all-rounder at No. 7. My brother was a batting all-rounder, I was a bowling all-rounder. There was only room for one in the team. Today if you ask whether two all-rounders are needed, people would take both, said Pathan.
Pathan came back to the ODI team in 2011 and played 12 matches for India the next year. In 2012 he scored 172 runs and took 19 wickets and that was his last year of international cricket.
He retired from all forms of cricket in 2020.
