Irfan Pathan Proposes Farewell Match Between Retired Players And Current Indian Team

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan on Saturday proposed a charity-cum-farewell match between the retired players and the current Indian side. His proposal comes on the back of growing calls for arranging farewell matches for the retired Indian players. Pathan also released his retired player's XI and it is as follows: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, and Pragyan Ojha. "Many people are talking about a farewell game for retired players who didn't get a proper send-off from the game. How about a charity cum farewell game from a team consisting of retired players vs the current Indian team," Pathan tweeted.

Earlier, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to host a farewell match for former skipper Dhoni, who announced his retirement from international cricket on August 15.

Dhoni had represented Bihar, East Zone, and Jharkhand in the domestic circuit. The 39-year-old played 131 first-class matches and scored 7,038 runs at an average of 36.84.

Earlier, Irfan Pathan had also asked the BCCI to allow players to feature in foreign T20 leagues. He had said that BCCI can give permission to those players who are not in the reckoning to get into the national side.

Pathan had announced his retirement from all forms of the game in January this year.

The 35-year-old Irfan had played a clinical role in the final of the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup against Pakistan in 2007. He picked up three wickets and returned with the figures of 3-16 in his four overs and was named as the Player of the Match.

Pathan is one of the three bowlers to have claimed a Test hat-trick for India and the first in the world to claim it in the first over of the match.

The swanky left-arm pacer featured in 29 Tests, 120 ODIs, and 24 T20Is for India, bagging 301 wickets across all formats.

He also managed to score 2,821 runs with a one century and 11 half-centuries.

He last played a match for India in 2012 against Sri Lanka.