Sports India

Irfan Pathan was not his congenial best on Wednesday. He postponed a scheduled interview saying: “Selection is tomorrow. I don’t want to talk about anything now”. Reports about Pathan being omitted from the squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka were doing the rounds. Being “rested” in three of the four Tests in the West Indies provided fodder for experts to dissect Pathan’s game on prime time television.

It seemed to have bothered him. “I have not read or watched anything yet, but I have heard from others what people have been talking about me,” he says. “So let’s talk tomorrow”.

On Thursday, Pathan’s name is on the team list. He has been a regular feature since December 2003 after taking nine wickets in an Under-19 game against Bangladesh earlier in November. And nobody is rocking his applecart just yet.

He was the No.2 one-day bowler in the world in April, but has slipped to No.7 now. He was the No.2 all-rounder but has slipped five places over the past couple of months. Bring the fall in the ranking to his notice and Pathan tells DNA: “No one plays for rankings. We can’t worry about other things while playing. Rankings are for the people.”

Pathan did not have the best of times during the two-month long tour of the West Indies. Being rested is something new for India’s bowling spearhead. Ask him about his mediocre run and Pathan says: “It’s just four games. Even in those four games I played in the West Indies, I picked up six wickets. Maybe I went for 5.3 runs per over. People are making it look so bad. ‘He is not in form, he is not in rhythm, and he has done so badly’. I don’t think there is any rough patch or anything.”

Pathan admits that the criticism did get under his skin a bit “I get upset. People are talking blah, blah, blah. But there should be a limit. Even in those four matches I didn’t play badly. Only in the last match I didn’t bowl too well. Even in the Test match, I got one wicket in each innings. But I have to get on with it. I can’t change anything people want to say,” he says

Pathan played only one Test and did not figure in the last one-day international. His six wickets came at 29.83 in the one-dayers and in the second Test at St Lucia, he took two wickets at 46.50. “I didn’t feel good not playing matches. But I didn’t show it and I took it in a really nice way. Everyone has to understand only 11 can play in a team. That is why there is a 15- member squad. I understood the situation. I said okay, it is alright,” Pathan says.

“When you are not picked you don’t have to have that look on your face, like someone has died. If I showed it would affect others. In the dressing room and even while doing duty as 12th man I always knew everything would be fine. I was happy with the way I coped with it,” he says. “I have been a good player. That is why I was there; No. 2 bowler and all-rounder. You play 50 to 60 games and there are bound to be three or four bad matches here and there”.

Probe him a bit further about warming the benches and Pathan says: “Yeah, it was the toughest period of my career so far. But I learnt a lot of things. I must say that I have become really strong mentally. Now I look at myself in the mirror and I can see myself being tough,” he says.

So how would you describe yourself? “A bowler who can take wickets.” And he is quick to add: “A bowler who would like to take wickets. I was never a quick bowler. When I started off in my first game I clocked 128, 130 and 134. My pace has not gone down as people believe. I am not concerned about bowling speed. See the wickets are different all over,” he says.

Pathan admits that at times a conscious decision is taken to bowl a tad slower. “You have to realise that to swing the ball you have to cut down on your pace sometimes. As long as I take wickets I am happy. Pace comes with rhythm,” he says.

He is now increasingly being considered as an all-rounder but Pathan doesn’t want to be given a tag. “I always say that I am a bowler who can bat. And I am still saying that. It is a good thing and a positive thing that I can also bat.”

Has playing non-stop cricket, being expected to deliver the goods with the bat and the ball taken its toll? Pathan does not buy this argument. “Even when you bowl you are under pressure to take wickets. When I bat, my thinking changes and when I bowl, my thinking changes. Yes, I don’t put myself under as much pressure while batting as while I bowl. But I still want to make runs. When you are a young kid, you want to be a good cricketer. I enjoy scoring a 50 as much as taking wickets,” he says.

Okay, if everything is fine, why have you over the past two years taken tips from so many former players — Wasim Akram, TA Sekhar, Andy Roberts — and Greg Chappell and Ian Frazer in the Indian team guiding you?

“Asking for help it is not a bad thing. The most important thing is that you have to be your own coach. I listen to everyone; take things that will help me. I keep trying (not experimenting). Not trying hard. I don’t always try to talk to every one. Andy Roberts comes up to me. He was very nice and tried to help me with my rhythm. Learning is always a good thing. Even a world class player with 200 or 300 one-day games or 100 Tests experience may have to learn more. That is how it is.”

Pathan says during his initial days he got caught up in all the hype. He was touted as the next Wasim Akram and the next Kapil Dev. “When I started off and then first went to Pakistan it was a great feeling. I dreamt of playing for India and people were saying so many nice things about me. I probably overworked myself a bit. But over the last one year, I have been more composed. I am listening to my body a lot. I listen to my trainer a lot. But my hard work has never come down. If there is one thing I know best, it is to work hard,” he says. “It is a good feeling to be compared to Wasim and Kapil. But they are great and big players. I have to be mature enough to understand that. If people wrote this in my first series they can write anything. I have to be careful not to get caught up in hype and do my normal work.”

And he knows what he needs to do now. “The first couple of days after having to sit out, my confidence was low. But not anymore. I just need one spell, man. One five-wicket haul and everything is back and I am on track. Then people are not going to talk about my pace going down, the ball not swinging and all that. I just need a five-wicket haul. Or maybe a three or four wicket haul,” he says.

Pathan has no fear of failure. “It is going to be great now on. People have always criticised me. But my thinking is totally different. I know it is going to be really good from here on.”