I played as a guy who made difference to the team, feels Irfan Pathan

A batting average of 23.39 in ODIs to go with 173 wickets at 29.72, Irfan Pathan came as a breath of fresh air to an Indian cricket team that was long starved for a genuine international level all-rounder. He was no less in Tests and T20Is too but the role that he played in ODIs in his first stint with the Indian side remains, till date, a promise that was all worth it. 

However, the quirk of fate and his regular dip in form thanks to numerous injuries that he suffered ensured Pathan faded away too soon and emergence of quicks like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar forced him away from international cricket. But Pathan is yet to move over the phase and stated that he believed the hype - that he could have genuinely been the best all-rounder in India’s cricket history had he played longer for the Indian team. 

"In terms of achievement, there could have been a lot more. I really believe that in one-day internationals, I could have been the best all-rounder that India ever produced, I could have been. That didn't happen because I didn't play as much cricket as I could have because my last game for India was at the age of 27,” Pathan said in an interview with rediff.com.

"I see people playing till the age of 35 or 37 like England fast bowler Anderson. Obviously the conditions in England are different. I think if you play till 35, things would have been better, but that's gone, it's done and dusted.

"Whatever matches I played, I played as a match-winner, I played as a guy who made the difference to the team. Even if I took one wicket -- the first wicket for the match -- that made a big impact on the team. Whatever innings I played with the bat, I played to make a difference. That's what will stay with me throughout my whole life."

After starting his career as a perfect foil to Zaheer Khan with the new ball, Irfan was forced to bowl first-change with Sreesanth bowling with the new ball. That had an adverse effect on his wicket-taking abilities as he was used mostly as a defensive bowler by the team management. Pathan added that his numbers got skewed because of the same.

"When you are bowling first change, when you are a defensive bowler according to your captain and coach, you have to play the role of containing the runs. You have to make sure that you don't give away too many runs. So if your role becomes different, then your numbers also become different as well."

"When you are bowling first change, when you are a defensive bowler according to your captain and coach, you have to play the role of containing the runs. You have to make sure that you don't give away too many runs. So if your role becomes different, then your numbers also become different as well."

"I actually feel that people from the team should have spoken about it. They should have said that, 'Yes Irfan used to take wickets, but now we have given him a different role. We have given him the role of first change bowler and someone who can bat at No. 7 or No. 8, which is very much required in one-day cricket right now.' Now, if an allrounder goes for around six runs per over and takes one wicket per match, you are happy with that, but you were not happy with Irfan Pathan who did the same thing. Why is that?"