Not Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma? Irfan Pathan names India star whose criticism led to his sacking from IPL 2025 commentary panel – sportingnews.com

Ritabrata_Banerjee
The 2025 season of the Indian Premier League concluded in June with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Virat Kohli winning their maiden IPL title.
RCB beat Punjab Kings in the final to finally win the elusive IPL title after a wait of 18 years, as Kohli too broke his jinx. 
One of the notable things during the season was the absence of the familiar voice of Irfan Pathan in the commentary box. Before the IPL season, Pathan was a regular with Star Sports in both ICC and BCCI events, however, he was notably snubbed from the broadcast duties for the 18th season of the T20 competition.
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Earlier reports had emerged that the 40-year-old had a fallout with certain players of the Indian cricket team in recent years and has been accused of being biased.
However, it has to be noted that there have not been any official statements regarding his absence. A source told Hindustan Times, “Pathan had a fallout with a couple of players a few years ago. Since then, he has not shied away from referring to them aggressively. The matter was raised that other junior players got caught in the crossfire. He has been accused of taking potshots at them on social media platforms even if he didn’t name them.”
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While many believed that Pathan might have been overly critical of Indian stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, which led to his ouster from the commentary team, Pathan has now named the Indian star whose criticism led to his sacking.
Speaking on Lallantop, the former India international said: “If I’m criticising you in 7 matches out of 14, I’m still being lenient. That is our job as broadcasters. There is no rivalry. All the Baroda players who have come after me — Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya or Hardik Pandya — none of them can say that Irfan-Yusuf did not help them.”
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Pathan further revealed that when Pandya was still young, he had recommended VVS Laxman to take the all-rounder in the Hyderabad team.
The left-arm speedster added: “VVS Laxman admitted on Star Sports, that he was at fault for not listening to me, and not picking Hardik in 2012. If he had picked him then, Hardik would have played for Hyderabad.”
Ritabrata is a content producer for The Sporting News’ India edition

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