Limited opportunities to Irfan Pathan raises eyebrows

Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his amazement at MS Dhoni’s way of handling Irfan Pathan during this edition of the IPL. Irfan featured in just two games out of the 12 that the Rising Pune Supergiants have played thus far in the season. He got an early look in but was asked to to bowl just one over and in the subsequent games, he was benched.

Gavaskar, in his column for news daily wrote, “It is hard to say from a distance but his treatment of the one world-class bowler in the team has raised eyebrows galore and made many wonder if there is some issue there.”

Sunil Gavaskar further cited that Irfan Pathan was not given a look-in in the previous edition as well when Irfan Pathan played (was in the squad!) under the captaincy of MS Dhoni for the Chennai Superkings. “Even when Irfan Pathan was a part of the Chennai Superkings last season, he hardly got a look in and the same is happening here in the RPS team,” quoted the legendary batsman.

He further stressed that the addition of Pathan could have helped the batting woes of RPS after their overseas players were injured. “With their batting weakened by the absence through injury of du Plessis, Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh, the left handed Pathan could have been the all-rounder that could have given the skipper some options,” he added.

Gavaskar also pointed out that the Rising Pune Supergiants lacked the charm that one usually associates with MS Dhoni. On the personal front too, he believed Dhoni could have taken more responsibility by coming up the order. “True, they had a major setback with injuries, which ruled out four of their overseas players out of the tournament half way through, but even before that, there didn’t seem to be the zing that one usually associates with the team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.”

“The skipper himself has been out of sorts with the bat though his glovework has been top class – and so he has not been able to transform the game with his big hitting a he has done umpteen times in the past. His reluctance to come up the order in crucial games has cost the team matches they should have won,” conceded Gavaskar.

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