Irfan Pathan reveals Gary Kirsten's 'exact words' that confirmed MS Dhoni dropped him: 'If it had been anyone else...'

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

When Irfan Pathan first burst onto the scene, the expectations were sky-high. He was just 19 when he made his Test debut in Australia – a daunting stage for any newcomer – and immediately caught attention with his aggression, swing, and accuracy. Within a year, he was drafted into the ODI squad and soon became a regular across formats, even featuring in India's first-ever T20I in 2006 against South Africa. Irfan Pathan spoke about MS Dhoni's role in his being dropped from Team India(AFP)
But in 2009, the promising script took an abrupt turn. Having already been sidelined from the Test side a year earlier, Irfan faced another major blow when he was dropped from the ODI setup after a series against Sri Lanka. The setback was crushing – he would spend the next three years away from the format, which enjoyed a significantly higher priority than the T20Is at the time.
By the time his recall came in 2012, the landscape of Indian fast bowling had shifted. New faces like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma had staked their claim with consistent performances, making the competition stiffer than ever. Irfan managed just 12 more ODIs in that comeback before his international career quietly wound down, culminating in his retirement in 2020.
5 years since his retirement, Irfan has finally opened up on the circumstances that led to his departure from the national team. The left-armer, who was handy with the bat in the lower order, too, revealed the reasoning he was given about being dropped, and how MS Dhoni – the Indian captain at the time – took the call to sideline the pacer.
'It was back in 2009, when we were in New Zealand. Before that, my brother (Yusuf Pathan) and I had won matches in Sri Lanka. The situation in which we had pulled a win – if it had been anyone else in our place, they wouldn't have been dropped for a year. In that match against Sri Lanka, we needed 60 runs from just 27–28 balls, and we won it from there,' Irfan began as he narrated the story during a chat with TheLallantop.
'In New Zealand, I was benched for the first match, the second match, and the third match as well. The fourth match was a draw because of rain. I wasn't in the final match either. Then I asked Gary sir why I had been dropped. If there was something I needed to improve, he could tell me, but I wanted to know the reason I was left out.'
Gary's two reasons
Kirsten was India's head coach at the time, and Irfan revealed how it became clear to him through the South African's explanation that Dhoni was involved in his being dropped.
'Kirsten gave me two reasons. He said, 'There are things that are not in my hand.' Those were Gary's exact words. I asked whose hands it was in, but he didn't tell me. I already knew whose hands it was in. The playing XI is decided by the captain's choice. The decision rests with the captain, coach, and management. Dhoni was the captain at that time. I won't get into whether that decision was right or wrong, because every captain has the right to run the team in his own way,' Pathan said.
'The second answer was that they were looking for a batting all-rounder at No. 7. Fair enough — my brother was a batting all-rounder, while I was a bowling all-rounder. The two were different from each other, but there was only room for one in the team. Nowadays, if you ask whether two all-rounders are needed, people would gladly take both.'