HomeAll-rounder Yusuf Pathan on Wednesday denied criticising national selectors for omitting his brother Irfan from India’s Champions Trophy squad, dubbing the reports as “totally baseless and wrong”.
“I did not make any comment on selection matter or about Irfan’s exclusion and the remarks attributed to me are totally baseless and wrong,” the towering right-hander said in a statement.
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Yusuf was earlier quoted in the media as saying that Irfan merited a place in the side purely on the basis of his performance and that biased selectors had kept the left-arm seamer out of the squad for reasons other than cricket.
Yusuf insisted he did not say anything of that sort in Tuesday’s programme in Ahmedabad after the all-rounder, along with his Rajasthan Royals teammate Ravindra Jadeja, joined Reliance Industries Ltd whom they will represent in the BCCI corporate cricket tournament.
“At the event, among other things I was asked to comment on the omission of Irfan Pathan from the Champions Trophy probables to which I clearly said ‘It is not for me to comment on selection matters’ and got up from the press conference.
“A couple of people came after me and kept repeating similar question and trying to put words in my mouth. Even there I said ‘I have nothing to say’ and made an exit from the venue,” Yusuf said.