Irfan Pathan reveals Gary Kirsten’s conversation that confirmed MS Dhoni dropped him

Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has revealed Gary Kirsten’s explanation for the former not featuring in any of the five ODIs in the 2009 all-format tour of New Zealand. The ODIs were played between the two and three-match T20I and Test series, respectively. 

Irfan said that he wanted to know the reasoning behind dropping him so that he could improve on those areas.

“In New Zealand, I was benched for the first match, the second match, and the third match as well. The fourth match was a draw because of rain. I wasn’t in the final match either. Then I asked Gary sir why I had been dropped. If there was something I needed to improve, he could tell me, but I wanted to know the reason I was left out,” stated Irfan while speaking in a video of The Lallantop.

The former all-rounder revealed that it was the then-skipper MS Dhoni who dropped him. However, Irfan said that he does not any grudge against Dhoni due to that call.

“Kirsten gave me two reasons. He said, ‘There are things that are not in my hand.’ Those were Gary’s exact words. I asked whose hands it was in, but he didn’t tell me. I already knew whose hands it was in. The playing XI is decided by the captain’s choice. The decision rests with the captain, coach, and management. Dhoni was the captain at that time. I won’t get into whether that decision was right or wrong, because every captain has the right to run the team in his own way,” added Pathan.

The cricketer-turned-commentator disclosed that the management was looking to slot in a batting all-rounder of the likes of Yusuf Pathan instead of a bowling all-rounder like him. Irfan also felt that no other player would have been dropped from the setup, especially after the kind of match-defining performances the duo had put in the preceding tour of Sri Lanka. 

“The second answer was that they were looking for a batting all-rounder at No. 7. Fair enough — my brother was a batting all-rounder, while I was a bowling all-rounder. The two were different from each other, but there was only room for one in the team. Nowadays, if you ask whether two all-rounders are needed, people would gladly take both,” remarked Irfan.