Kandy, Aug 7: Irfan Pathan was beaming from ear to ear at the prize distribution ceremony of the one-off Twenty20I against Sri Lanka. It was the last match of India’s tour to the island nation, the tour which Irfan came as a replacement for an injured Vinay Kumar. And there he was, receiving his second consecutive Man-of-the-match award, after winning the same in the final match of the ODI series.
Irfan set the base for India to defend a modest 155 in the T20I by shattering Lanka’s top-order with wickets of Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga.
Irfan spoke about the thrill of being on top of his game that he was experiencing after a long time before promptly warning himself against getting carried away with his successful comeback.
Excerpts:
Picking up early wickets always helps when you’re defending 150-odd, doesn’t it?
It does help the team and also dries up the runs. Jayawardene was going great guns and getting him out early was good.
After three quick wickets, a total of 155 started to look like it was 180-odd.
It was a big field. When Dhoni came in the dressing room after the Indian innings, he told us that the ball was swinging. We just have to bowl in the right areas and we’ll get wickets. He said it’s going to be difficult for the Sri Lankan batsmen and that’s what happened.
Picking up the wickets of their best batsmen must have helped your confidence.
Absolutely. It has boosted my confidence. I’ve been working a lot on my bowling for the last year and a half. We’ve had a couple of good bowling coaches since then. I’m working with him [Joe Dawes] and he’s been keeping an eye on me in every match and also in the nets. Things are working well for me and I just want to continue with this performance.
Will your flight back home be much more relaxed and easy than the one you took to be here?
Yes, I’m experiencing that feeling after a long time. God has been very kind to me and things have turned around for me. But I have to ensure I don’t get too hyper about it and continue doing what I have been doing so far. I’m just taking one match at a time and let’s see where the future takes me.
