 Indian pace bowler, Irfan Pathan, has said that he has been very impressed
and inspired by the return to international cricket of S. Sreesanth and hoped
that he would be able to do the same in the near future. He said that his optimism
stemmed from the fact that he was now playing domestic cricket after being out
of competitive cricket due to his injury woes, and that he would do his best to
get back to the side.
Pathan also said that Sreesanth was doing well in the first class cricket as
well, due to which he was selected in the side. This, according to Pathan, helped
him perform well in the first test match he played for 19 months.
Pathan added that he had met Sreesanth during a Ranji trophy game and
had been a witness to a confident-looking Sreesanth even then. His body language,
according to Pathan had been very impressive. Talking to PTI he also said, "This
kind of comeback strengthens the belief that you can also do it in same manner
by improving your performance."
Sreesanth had had a magnificent performance in his comeback test match at the
Green Park in Kanpur against Sri Lanka. Playing in his first test match
since March 2008 - incidentally even then he had played at Kanpur - Sreesanth
sent the Sri Lankans back with a five wicket haul in the first innings that
won him the man of the match award.
Pathan has been out of international cricket as well, and given his poor performances,
has been downgraded in BCCI's contracts from B to C. Earlier there was a controversy
regarding the contracts as Pathan's name was totally missing from the list,
but the board then added it citing overlooking error.
Pathan also spoke of the importance of domestic cricket in which every cricketer
needs to perform to prove his worth to the team. He added that he wanted to
cement his place in the national side and hence was doing his best in the domestic
cricket with every game.
Pathan had last played a Test against South Africa in Ahmedabad in April
last year, and his last ODI was against Sri Lanka when India had gone to their
country. Pathan said that he was fit enough to bowl longer spells now and had
also hit a half century recently. Pathan is a left arm swing bowler who can
bat in the lower order, but many critics had thought that pressuring him into
becoming an all-rounder had messed up his career.
|
