Ex-India cricketer blames MS Dhoni for ending his career – 'It was captain's call'

Time of India

a day ago

Former India all-rounder
has blamed
for bringing an end to his cricketing career.
Pathan played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is, claiming 301 international wickets before retiring in 2020.
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He burst onto the international scene in 2003 as a teenager, drawing comparisons with Wasim Akram. At his peak, he could swing the new ball prodigiously and contribute vital runs down the order, earning comparisons with Kapil Dev. His hat-trick against Pakistan in the 2006 Karachi Test remains historic. A match-winning spell in the 2007 T20 World Cup final cemented his reputation as a big-match player.
But from 2009 onwards, his place in the team came into question, while his elder brother
was preferred for his hard-hitting abilities.
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'In 2009, Gary Kirsten told me that I was playing well but Yusuf was better, and the team would go with him. We were in New Zealand then. Earlier, my brother and I had won a match in Sri Lanka from a losing position. We needed 60 off 29 balls with seven wickets down, and we still won. If it had been someone else, I don't think that player would have been dropped for at least a year,' Pathan said on Lallantop.
'In New Zealand, I was dropped from all five matches.
I asked Gary the reason I wasn't getting chances, and what I could improve. He gave me two reasons. First, that some things were not in his hands. When I asked who was calling the shots, he said he couldn't tell me.
'The Playing XI was picked by the captain. This was Dhoni's call—that Irfan is not needed now. That was the captain's prerogative.
'If you are in the squad, you should be looking to play. As a player, I believed I should have played, and every player should think like that. My brother was a batting all-rounder and I was a bowling all-rounder. We both could have played.'