T20 World Cup: Irfan Pathan takes a direct jibe at ex-India Selector, praises current Selectors

Add as a preferred source on Google

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan took a direct dig at Krishnamachari Srikkanth during a chat on Star Sports.

India is set to announce the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 which will start in West Indies and USA from 1st June.

Ahead of that, the experts had a sit together where they discussed the possible contenders of the Indian team. In that regard, Pathan opened up about an incident which happened to him during his playing days.

Pathan recalled that he was dropped from the India team after an injury lay-off during Krishnamachari Srikkanth's time as a selector. He said the Indian selectors now value the players' previous contributions if they get injured at a time, where he cited an example involving Wriddhiman Saha.

"I was part of the Indian team when Cheeka sir was a selector. I got injured and was dropped from the team after that, despite having played for India. That's the truth. But I'll tell you, I have no qualms at all. I have great respect for you, but I'm saying, at that time, the situation was different. The mindset, perhaps of the captain or the selection committee, was different. But let's talk about the 2010s. Wriddhiman Saha was literally out of the team for a year due to injury. When he recovered, he returned to the squad and made it into the Playing XI after a year. A year is indeed a long period of time. The Indian team considered what he had contributed in the past before his injury. They didn't want to undervalue that; rather, they wanted to acknowledge it. So, they decided to give him some matches and see how he performs," Pathan said on the 'Star Sports Press Room Show, Ticket to World Cup' programme.

The former all-rounder also advised the selectors not to discard the performance of a player before his/her injury issue and provide some chances to an individual.

"When you're in a selection committee, you shouldn't forget a player's previous contributions for India, even before the IPL. You should never forget that, and I'm not referring to events from too far back. This should always be taken into consideration. Just because some players are performing well in the IPL, it doesn't mean they should automatically be selected," he added.

In the current India squad, Rishabh Pant has been out of contention for more than a year due to an accident, but the wicketkeeper-batter is likely to be part of the India squad for the T20 World Cup.