Irfan Pathan chasing the great Test dream

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Pacer or all-rounder? It is a question that has hung around Irfan Pathan’s neck all his career, and one that threatened to ruin it. Losing his place in the national side in 2006, Irfan endured a fair bit; a career-threatening back injury in 2010 also did not help either.

In December last year, Irfan donned India colours again and cannot wait to regain his place in the Test side as well. The all-rounder opened out in an exclusive chat.

Looking back, what do you think you could have done differently?

As a human, we always think that we could have done this differently as we mature. But I do not regret anything. It was an opportunity at the top level, and it still remains so as long as I keep working hard. If you look at me, a muezzin’s son coming to play cricket for India, was nothing less than a dream come true.

Did it get lonely when dropped from the Indian team?

People say success makes you lonely. There is no loneliness when you are out (of the team). My family was there, and that is the best thing to have in life.

Your mother cooks for you, and your father comes home and shows his aura around the house, saying he is the boss (smiles). My younger sister tried to teach me cricket all this while! That is normal life, and that can never be lonely.

What went wrong, especially post 2007?

To be honest, one needs to blame himself for his good or bad performance. I wasn’t bowling well, and it was as simple as that. In terms of batting, I believe it has helped me and the team in some way.

Because I remember during those days when I was batting up the order, we won 15 matches in a row. I am not saying that it happened because of me, and I am very clear about that.

But it makes a difference in finding the right balance for the team. As an individual too, it helped me. What went wrong was my bowling, I wasn’t up to the mark.

What changes did you make to your bowling?

I made some technical changes to bowl a better line. TA Sekar and Eric Simons helped me. My alignment is much more straight now and I am able to bowl a much better line. Changes take some time, but that action helped me get back into the national team.
All-rounder or pacer?

I think of myself as bowler who can bat. Nowadays, I try to segregate my bowling from batting. When I go out to bat, I only think like a batsman and vice versa. Luckily you can only do one thing at a time! I do exactly as my team wants me to.

Did IPL play a role in your comeback?

Playing IPL is great fun, and and it brought me back into the reckoning. One thing I want to make sure is that in future, after the IPL, I will keep spending a lot of time training and try to regain my place in the Indian Test team in the near future.