He clarified that he was none of cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag or VVS Laxman.
In an interview to ‘The Lalantop’, Irfan said without naming that player, “I was not quite young. I was a player who thought that he is a better batsman than me. There is no meaning to insult anyone by name. There is no permanent friendship or rivalry in cricket. It was said, ‘Why is it going to batting?”
40 -year -old Irfan further clarified that this senior player is not included in Fab 5 of Indian cricket. He said, “He was not a grandfather. In fact, Dada was the person who gave up his position for others.”
He further said, “Yes, but let me make it clear that he was not Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman or Sachin Tendulkar. He felt that he was a more capable batsman, and the captain also listened to him and listened to him, but he was out early in that match.”
Irfan played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20I matches in his career and scored 1,105, 1,544 and 172 runs respectively. This left -handed batsman scored a century, six half -centuries and five half -centuries in ODIs.
Pathan also told during this time that once Sachin Tendulkar sent him to number-3 to counter Anil Kumble. Pathan said, “He sent me to bat at number three in a match of the Dalip Trophy. He told me that if Anil Kumble comes to bowl, he knew. He knew that a match winner like Anil Kumble could bother us. He thought that if I was the eighth number batsman, I could be angry with Kumble and change my plan.”