'I haven't confirmed my availability in any league' - Irfan Pathan clarifies recent rumours of him participating in Lankan Premier League

The former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan, on Monday, revealed that he is keen on taking part in international leagues, but didn’t confirm his availability in any league for now. This is not the first time the pacer has expressed his wish of participating in the overseas tournament. Time and again he has said that cricket is left in him and he wants to use his full potential.

Irfan announced his retirement from all the formats of the game on January 4, 2020, putting a full stop on his international career of 16 years. Having made his international debut for India in 2003 at the age of 19 years, Pathan represented the country in 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20 Internationals scoring 1,105, 1,544 and 172 runs respectively. He also took 100, 173 and 28 scalps in Tests, ODI and T20 respectively.

The 35-year-old took to Twitter to express his desire of playing the international leagues, but in future. He tweeted, “I wish to play T20 Leagues around the world in future, but at this stage I haven’t confirmed my availability in any Leagues.”

I wish to play T20 Legues around the world in future, but at this stage I haven't confirmed my availability in any Leagues.

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) August 3, 2020

Till now, Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh is the only player to have obtained the No Objection Certificate from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to participate in the foreign leagues. The swashbuckling batsman became the first Indian to participate in the Global T20 Canada league. After the Canadian league, the all-rounder flew to Abu Dhabi where he represented Maratha Arabians in the T10 league.

Irfan Pathan’s only regret in his life

Though the pacer took retirement in January this year, he had not featured in an international fixture for India in 2012. Irfan also recognized as India’s most prominent swing bowler played his last match (T20) for the Indian side in 2012 against South Africa.

While taking retirement, Irfan had told Hindustan Times that his only regret in life is not playing more cricket for India, “I wish I would have played more and could have taken that tally to 500-600 wickets and scored more runs, but it did not happen,” he said. A 27-year-old Irfan Pathan, at the peak of his career, should have got more opportunities but it did not happen for whatever reasons.