Irfan Pathan meets his former Test captain over lunch

Irfan Pathan has been putting the hard yards at practice in a bid to resurrect his international career. There was a time when Pathan was hailed as one of the most talented cricketers on the block but he slowly faded away from the reckoning. He wasn’t procured by any franchise at the IPL auctions in February but was later roped in by Gujarat Lions as a late replacement to one of their injured players.

The 32-year old played just a solitary game in the entire season as Gujarat Lions ended the campaign as the bottom ranked team in the tenth edition of the IPL. Pathan, who captains Baroda in the Ranji Trophy, had a decent season for his team this year. The all-rounder last played for India in 2012 before injuries stalled his international career. Incidentally, Pathan picked up a five-wicket haul in his last ODI appearance for India. He was a part of the squad who won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 but did not get a game during the entire length of the tournament.

When Pathan met Kumble

On Thursday, Pathan hosted his former teammate and captain Anil Kumble at his house for lunch. Pathan was pleased to have Kumble over for lunch, which was strictly vegetarian as per the preference of his guest. He posted a picture of the meet on his Twitter account.

Kumble was replaced by Shastri as head coach

Kumble has been in the news for the wrong reasons lately ever since he had an altercation with the skipper Kohli. Apparently, Kohli did not like the overbearing attitude of Kumble, who intimidated his teammates. A section of media criticized Kohli having differences on the style of Kumble, who is a venerated personality in Indian and world cricket.

As things took a turn, India eventually got Ravi Shastri as the head coach for a period of 2 years. He is currently busy working with the team in Sri Lanka, which is his first assignment as India head coach.