Many former Indian cricketers like Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh have openly criticized the national selectors for ignoring them and now, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has also joined the bandwagon. The southpaw said that the selectors didn’t communicate with him properly and considered him a ‘buddha’  (old) at the age of 30. Pathan, who retired from all forms of cricket earlier this year, even went on to claim that he is open to come out of retirement and play for the national side if proper communication is done with him by the Indian selectors. Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan Want BCCI to Allow Indian Players to Participate in Foreign T20 Leagues.

“Selectors made me ‘buddha’ at the age of 30. There’s no communication from the board and selectors. If they say ‘Irfan, you give your best for one year, and you can be available for Team India’, I will obviously give my best by leaving everything aside, but there’s no one to communicate at all,” said Irfan Pathan while talking to former teammate Suresh Raina during a live Instagram session.

Irfan, 35, said that he is ready to give his ‘heart and soul’ if he is asked to come out of retirement and don the blue jersey again. “Communication is very important. If they come and tell me ‘Irfan you have retired but you prepare for one year and you will be available for India selection’ then I will leave everything, give my heart and soul and will only do hard work. But who will do the communication?” the veteran added.

Irfan, who made his debut in 2003 as a 19-year-old, played his last international game back in 2012 at the age of 27. After that, he was part of the squad in some series but didn’t feature in the playing XI. He scalped 100 wickets in the 29 Test matches along with scoring 1105 runs. In ODIs, he scored 1544 runs and claimed 173 wickets in 120 games. While in the shortest format of the game, he featured in 24 matches in which he scored 172 runs and took 28 wickets.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 10, 2020 08:46 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).