"Yeh kyu mere se upar ja raha hai?" - Irfan Pathan reveals senior player's shocking reaction to him being slotted at No. 3

Team India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has revealed that a senior player in the side was extremely upset after he was slotted to bat at No. 3 order in one of the matches. He clarified that the cricketer wasn't one among Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag or VVS Laxman.

While Irfan was known more for his bowling exploits, the former Baroda cricketer was more than handy with the bat. As a result, he was sometimes promoted in the batting order. In fact, the southpaw even has a Test hundred to his name.

In an interview with 'The Lallantop', though, Irfan recalled an incident when a senior batter was extremely agitated after his name was put at No. 3 in the batting order. Without taking the name of the player, he said:

"I didn't say anything; I was quite young. He was someone who thought he was a better batter than me. There is no point in disrespecting someone by taking names. There is no permanent friendship or rivalry in cricket. It was said, 'Yeh kyu mere se upar jaa raha hai batting karne?' [Why is he batting above me?]"

The 40-year-old then went on to clarify that the senior player wasn't among the Fab 5 of Indian cricket. Irfan continued:

"It wasn't Dada. In fact, Dada was someone who sacrificed his own position for others."

Admitting that the senior cricketer did hold his jersey, the former all-rounder added:

"Yes, but I will make this clear that it wasn't Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, or Sachin Tendulkar. He thought he was a more capable batter, and the captain also listened to him and promoted him, but he got out early in that match."

Irfan played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is during his career, scoring 1,105, 1,544 and 172 runs respectively. The left-handed batter notched up one hundred and six fifties in Tests and five half-centuries in ODIs.

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"He sent me to bat at No. 3" - Irfan Pathan recalls being promoted by Sachin Tendulkar

During the same interaction, Irfan revealed that Tendulkar promoted him to No. 3 for the first time during a Duleep Trophy game. The 40-year-old recalled how the Indian legend had a plan to upset Anil Kumble. He elaborated:

"He sent me to bat at No. 3 in a Duleep Trophy match. He told me to counter-attack if Anil Kumble comes to bowl. He knew that a match-winner like Anil Kumble would trouble us. He thought that if I, being a No. 8 batter, could connect a couple of shots, Kumble might get angry and change his plan."

Pathan played 122 first-class matches and scored 4,559 runs at an average of 30.39, with three hundreds and 26 fifties to his credit. With the ball, he picked up 384 wickets at an average of 28.33.