'He was both courageous and selfless': Greg Chappell opens up on Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan had announced his retirement from all form of cricket and netizens took to social media to blame Greg Chappell for his downfall. 

However, the all-rounder spoke about the issue saying blaming the then coach was a cover-up.

Now, opening about the hype around the bowler and his relationship, Greg Chappell said, “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,” he said, according to Times of India.

Pathan was 27 when he made his final appearance in 2012. 

“All these discussions people talking about Greg Chappell they are just covering up. (The discussion that) Irfan was not interested, it was coming from somewhere. All the aura they made that Irfan lost his swing, people need to understand, that you are not going to get the same kind of swing that you get in 10 overs...I was still getting the swing,” Pathan had told PTI.

“People talk about my performance, but my job was different. I was given a job to contain because I was bowling first change. I had been told this is your job. I remember getting dropped after winning the game in Sri Lanka in 2008, who gets dropped after winning the game for the country without any reason?” he added.