Former Indian coach Greg Chappell heaped praise on Irfan Pathan, who recently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. It had been often said that Pathan's promotion in the batting order, a move thought to be the brainchild of Chappell, led to the downfall of his international career.
However, Pathan had himself rubbished the story, insisting that it was his own injuries which put curtains on his time with the Men in Blue.
“Nothing of that sort happened. I know lot of people said Greg Chappell ruined my career which is not true. No one can ruin anyone’s career. What you need to do, you need to do. You alone are responsible for what you do,” said Pathan two years back.
“When I was dropped from the team I was unfortunately injured. After that, making a comeback was a bit difficult. I don’t blame anyone,” he added.
In a conversation with The Times of India following Pathan's retirement, Chappell praised the former Indian all-rounder, calling him 'courageous and selfless'.
"Irfan was happy to play whatever role the team required. He was both courageous and selfless,” Chappell said.
“Irfan proved that he was a very capable all-rounder. Apart from what he did in limited-overs cricket, he very nearly scored a Test century (93 vs Sri Lanka in Delhi). His swing bowling was very good, with the highlight for me being his hat-trick in the first over of a Test match against Pakistan in Karachi."
Chappell's time with the Indian team was surrounded by controversies, and his stint ended with a disastrous campaign in the 2007 World Cup where India was knocked out in the group stage, following losses to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
In an international career which spanned 9 years, Pathan represented India in 29 Tests, 120 ODIs, and 24 T20Is. He took 100, 173 and 28 wickets in each of the three formats respectively.
