Irfan Pathan refuses to blame Greg Chappell for decline

Irfan Pathan announces his retirement in Mumbai on Saturday

Contrary to talk about coach Greg Chappell playing a role in his decline, Irfan Pathan indicated on Sunday that Chappell had nothing to do with him not living up to his promise.

"His [Irfan's] downfall coincided with Chappell's stint as the India head coach with many people accusing the Australian of ruining Irfan's career. However, the former all-rounder refused to single out any person and felt it was an amalgamation of many factors that led to his slump in form with both bat and ball," reported IANS.

Team management in focus

"There were a lot of things…my injuries. I could say sometimes mismanagement of the team management as well. There are many things which can be blamed for my decline in bowling. And you can only blame yourself if you have not achieved or done something right," Irfan said.

Meanwhile, Irfan told PTI that Chappell having a negative role in his career was a cover-up. "All these discussions, people talking about Greg Chappell… they are just covering up. (The discussion that) Irfan was not interested, it was coming from somewhere. All the aura they made that Irfan lost his swing, people need to understand, that you are not going to get the same kind of swing that you get in 10 overs. I was still getting the swing," he said.

SRT and Greg hailed

The all-rounder said that it was Sachin Tendulkar and Chappell's idea to let him bat higher up in the order. "It was Tendulkar's idea for me to bat up the order and not only Greg Chappell. Batting was something which I always enjoyed. A lot of people think that I came to international cricket and started batting suddenly." Irfan told PTI.

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