Irfan Pathan clears the air after reports claimed he was planning to retire

Irfan Pathan is the only bowler to have taken a Test hat-trick in the first over of the match. At his best, the left-arm swing bowler was the best in the business. He swung the ball both ways to trouble the soundest of batsmen and scored a few crucial runs at the back end of the innings. However, he is at the twilight of his career now and last played for the Indian team in 2012.

There were reports that claimed Irfan has been planning on pulling curtains on his career but he has denied talks of his retirement. He is currently associated with Jammu and Kashmir as a mentor cum player and has no plans to stop playing cricket. He wasn’t picked by any of the IPL franchises this season and has taken up a new role as the commentator.

Wasn’t expecting an IPL contract

“A lot of people might be thinking that since I am going in the box, I’ll be out of the field. But, no, I am not! To keep the air clear, I am still playing cricket. I am just 33 and I still have a lot of time. Since I didn’t play in the last domestic season, for whatever reasons, I knew IPL wasn’t coming,” Pathan said.

“It’s all about current form. I wasn’t playing so I can’t expect people to know about my form. I have been asked to take up commentary since long now. People said that why can’t you be the first player who’s still playing and also commentates. So this season, I thought to give it a try.” he was quoted as saying by sportskeeda.

The all-rounder had a couple of lucrative offers in hand but chose to offer his services to Jammu and Kashmir. He decided to give back something to the game by helping the youngsters of J&K. He also added that he was offered the captaincy role but rejected it as he did not want his presence or absence to affect the working of the team.

Talking about the similarity of his decision with J&K to Wasim Jaffer‘s presence with Vidarbha. Irfan added, “To be honest, Vidarbha was in a little better position when Wasim Bhai joined. He has definitely added a lot to the team. Here, I’ll have to start from the scratch. J&K have won just a handful of matches in the domestic tournaments. It’s a long process and will take time. I’ll aim at setting in the process. Whether I am there or not, the team should make a progress.”

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