Pakistan pacer Mohammad Irfan had last year claimed that he ended former Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir’s white-ball career when Pakistan toured India in 2012. During the series, Irfan had dismissed Gambhir twice. The former Delhi opener played his last T20I for India in that series and never made a comeback in the shortest format of the game for Team India.
Now, Irfan has issued a clarification on his statement while speaking with sports presenter Sawera Pasha on her YouTube channel. During the chat, the 7’1″ bowler recalled how he troubled Gambhir with his bouncer and short balls in the 2012 series.
Irfan revealed that Gambhir was struggling against his nasty bouncers and after the series, the left-handed batsman was dropped from the team. Irfan said that Gambhir’s departure from the team prompted him to make that comment.
“Actually whenever we have India-Pakistan matches, whoever does not perform well he becomes a zero and whoever performs becomes a hero. The way I was bowling to Gautam Gambhir, he was not able to see the ball, the way he was playing my bouncer, everyone was saying that he is not looking like Gautam Gambhir,” said Irfan.
“Because there was so much pressure of my height and my bowling, so I had said from my side that I felt like that because after that he didn’t come back in the team, he was dropped from the team. After that, he played a few matches only and there also he could not perform. So, that was his last tour in 2012 when he played against me. So, that is why I said like that,” he added.
Irfan made his debut for Pakistan with an ODI against England in 2010. He surprised the cricketing fraternity with his impressive height which also made him popular amongst fans and a dangerous customer to deal with for any batsman.
One could understand the impact of Irfan simply by the fact that teams used to train by facing throwdowns from a reasonable height in order to prepare against him.
Irfan last played for Pakistan in a T20I against Australia in 2019. So far, he has taken 109 wickets in 4 Tests, 60 ODIs and 22 T20Is in his international career.
