Pathan becomes J&K coach, end of cricketing career?

The Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) today appointed former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan as the coach-cum-mentor of its senior state side for the 2018-19 season.

Irfan Pathan’s cricketing career has perhaps come to end. After fighting numerous injuries, staging comebacks, going through Ranji and IPL snubs, the India all-rounder has decided to don the coach’s hat to give a new twist to his career.

While there was no official announcement on Irfan’s part about a retirement from cricket, the writing is more or less on the wall.

After going unsold in the IPL auctions for the second year in a row, Irfan will perform the role of a coach-cum mentor for the Jammu & Kashmir side.

"He will be the coach-cum-mentor of our team for a period of one year," JKCA CEO Aashiq Bukhari said.

On his arrival, Pathan interacted with the young cricketers at the Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium and told them to work hard on their game in order to reach the next level.

“I am here for you and I will go into every district of the State to unearth the hidden talent. My job here is to help develop J&K cricket as mentor cum player. You should always remember one thing and it is most important suggestion from me to you. Always play with winning attitude and try to help your team win in whatever capacity you can. It is not only about big hundreds and number of wickets, even small help team win,” Pathan told youngsters.

He said that he is in J&K for one year term and they have started the planning to develop cricket in State.

“We have already started to work on the plan and soon we will set that in motion. J&K has got the talent and need is to give them platform and chance to excel. Idea is to work alongwith senior players of State to make plan successful,” he said.

Notably, Pathan was also unceremoniously sacked as captain and subsequently dropped from the Baroda squad after a few initial matches of the Ranji Trophy. Pathan’s cricketing career then hit a major roadblock when none of the franchises showed interest in him in the IPL auctions.

The 33-year-old Pathan played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20 Internationals for India between 2003 and 2012.