I hope the double hundred gets rid of the T20 specialist tag: Yusuf Pathan

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: February 9, 2010

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New Delhi: After scoring a scintillating double hundred to lead his team to the historic Duleep Trophy title win, Indian all-rounder Yusuf Pathan has said that he hopes the marathon innings would help in wiping off the T20 specialist tag attached to his name.

Pathan scored an unbeaten 210, his maiden double century, and helped West Zone chase down a world record 536-run target, a feat never achieved before while chasing in world cricket, and the Baroda batsman termed the knock his best ever.

“Definitely it is the best innings of my career so far and I scored a hundred in the first innings as well. I had played a 187-run knock in first-class cricket before and also took 10 wickets in the same. I hope this Twenty20 specialist tag goes out now,” Yusuf told PTI-Bhasha.

Pathan said that he is baffled how the tag got attached to his name when he has performed well enough in the four-day games in domestic cricket. “I don’t know why this Twenty20 tag is there with my name? We play four-day matches in first-class cricket. There are 50-50 and Twenty20 games in first-class cricket but Ranji and Duleep Trophy are long format games,” he said.

Yusuf, who played a huge role in Rajasthan Royals’ title win in the inaugural Indian Premier League, last played an ODI for India in September last year. The Baroda dasher conceded that being out of the national team hurts and making a comeback is difficult.

“You feel bad when you get dropped. So I focus on my performance, it’s our job to impress selectors. There is stiff competition for every place in the team as there is a lot of talent around,” he said. “I will be playing the Deodhar Trophy next and there are a few Twenty20 matches. I want to continue this good performance and attract the selectors.”

Talking about the recent ball tampering incident involving all rounder Shahid Afridi, Yusuf said he had no clue about Pakistani all-rounder’s claim that all teams indulge in it. “I don’t know why he said so. I can’t say anything about that since I have not seen anyone biting the ball like that. I have not seen anything like that in international cricket,” he said.

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