Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan suddenly vanished from international cricket in 2012 despite picking up a 5-wicket haul in what turned out to be his final ODI. While the exact reasons behind Irfan's exile from the Indian team are only known to the selectors and the team management, the then-skipper, MS Dhoni, is also blamed for the poor handling of the all-rounder's situation. In 2020, Irfan himself opened up on some candid conversations he had with Dhoni about his status in the team. A clip from an old interview from five years ago has gone viral on social media.
In the interview with SportsTak, Irfan revealed that he had a chat with Dhoni in 2008 about his performances, after hearing in the media that the skipper wasn't impressed with his bowling. When asked by Irfan, however, Dhoni said that there was no such issue with his performance.
"Yes, I asked him. During the 2008 Australia series, Mahi bhai's statement came out in the media that Irfan wasn't bowling well. So I thought I had bowled well throughout the series, so I went and asked Mahi bhai about this. Sometimes, the statements are twisted in the media, so I also wanted to clarify. So Mahi bhai said, 'no Irfan, there is nothing like this, everything's going as per plans.' When you get a reply like this, then you believe that okay, you do what you can. Also if you keep asking for explanations again and again after that, you hurt your self-respect," he said in the interview.
The former India international then took a sly dig at Dhoni, saying he isn't someone who sets up hookah in someone's (Dhoni's) room to please him.
"I don't have a habit of setting up hookah in someone's room or talking about this. Everyone knows. Sometimes if you don't speak about it, it's better. A cricketer's job is to perform on the field and that is what I used to focus on," he further said.