Greg Chappell picks the highlight of Irfan Pathan's career

Irfan Pathan, the former Indian cricketer, recently bid adieu to international cricket on the 4th of January 2020. It was an emotional moment for the fans but the tough decision was already taken by the 35-year-old player. He was poured with some heartwarming wishes from cricketing fraternity and his followers. And, now, Greg Chappell, the former Indian coach has opened up telling about the positives of Irfan Pathan throughout his career.

The 35-year-old former cricketer is no less than a great all-rounder that India has ever produced in its cricket history. He was a left-hand seaming all-rounder and was filled with enormous caliber and skills. Irfan Pathan made his debut for Team India back in 2003 and since then he donned national jersey in 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is in which he managed to grab as many as 301 wickets with more than 2500 runs in international cricket.

He holds several records but one record that is nearly impossible to break is to take a hat-trick in the first over of the innings in the longer format. The left-arm pacer achieved that milestone back in 2006 against Pakistan in Karachi. Its been 14 years but none of the bowlers succeeded in doing the same in Test format.

Greg Chappell opines on the illustrious career of Irfan Pathan

Greg Chappell didn’t have the best time in his coaching tenure with Team India that was surrounded by several controversies. In an interview to TOI, he said that Irfan Pathan was happy to play whatever role he was given in the side whether in bowling or batting. He was quite courageous and selfless while playing. Irfan proved his worth as an all-rounder and had nearly smacked a century against Sri Lanka in a Test match. As per him, the highlight from Pathan’s career was his hat-trick against Pakistan in the Karachi Test match.

“Irfan was happy to play whatever role the team required. He was both courageous and selfless. 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 at the Ferozshah Kotla 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,” Greg Chappell told Time of India.

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