Irfan Pathan: It’s always been fun turning out for Baroda

Two of the biggest talking points of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League auctions were Ben Stokes and Irfan Pathan. While the England all-rounder generated headlines for being sold at a whopping 14.5 crore, his Indian counterpart, once one of the finest Indian allrounders, remained unsold at the auctions.

But on Saturday, one saw Irfan Pathan, in charge of leading the Baroda team, actively involved in the nets with his young side ahead of their quarterfinal against a threatening Karnataka side. An intent-looking Dinesh Karthik was seen going through his wicketkeeping drills before he squares off against Parthiv Patel’s Gujarat. Meanwhile, Pathan is looking to revive his career after the IPL auctions snub.

“I believe and that’s why I am here,” said the once left-arm swing bowling expert. “My batting has, in fact, improved,” he asserted.

“When your aim is bigger, your drive is more. It’s always been fun turning out for Baroda, but if I didn’t have ambitions beyond that then playing for Baroda wouldn’t have been as fun. As far as I have that aim, playing for Baroda will be fun. Everyday for Baroda has been exciting for me, I’ve always enjoyed showing up the day after practice, and so on, and that’s how I intend to keep turning out” he told the Times of India.

In this year’s IPL Auction, many of the Ranji performers were overlooked and the Test cricketers like Ishant Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara did not get bids from any franchise. Speaking about this, Irfan said he wants to look ahead, “There’s always something to look forward to. It’s not all about the IPL. Indian selectors have a job to do and with India playing a lot of ODI cricket this year, the domestic performers will have to be at their best, You can’t blame the scheduling of the tournament. The Mushtaq Ali tournament has thrown up good players and given recognition to them through heavy IPL contracts,” he added.

With his recent domestic performances, Irfan has proved that his old charm has still not deserted him completely.