A shocking development has arrived as it has been revealed that the former India National Cricket Team all-rounder Irfan Pathan was not axed by Star Sports for criticizing Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma.
Irfan Pathan was actually fired by Star Sports ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 for slamming the superstar all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
Irfan was not part of the IPL 2025 broadcast team
The former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan took up the broadcasting duties after ending his playing career and was regularly seen on Star Sports.
He was closely associated with the broadcasters and covered some of the biggest cricket matches of India, providing his valuable insights and doing the commentary.
However, everyone was left surprised when his name didn’t feature in the panel of commentators or the broadcast team for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
At that time, it was reported that Irfan had been left out due to allegations of having a personal bias against certain players. Reportedly, he brought in personal grudges on air, and this didn’t sit well with Star Sports, leading to his ouster.
If I’m criticising you in 7 matches out of 14, I’m still being lenient – Irfan Pathan
It was also speculated that Irfan Pathan was fired because of his blunt criticism of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for their poor performance during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2025.
However, in an interview with the Lallantop, it was revealed that Hardik Pandya was behind his ouster and not Rohit or Kohli. The veteran journalist Saurabh Dwivedi told Irfan, “Humari ‘Hardik’ iksha hai ki aap sach bata dein,” while asking him to open up on the matter.
The former India all-rounder laughed and, while referring to the IPL 2024, said that he was quite lenient in his criticism. He said:
“If I’m criticising you in 7 matches out of 14, I’m still being lenient. That is our job as broadcasters.”
Saurabh Dwivedi also mentioned that things are not good between Hardik Pandya and Irfan Pathan and asked why there is a rivalry between them. Ex-India star responded
“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.”
he had picked him then, Hardik would have played for Hyderabad – Irfan Pathan
Irfan also revealed that he had suggested the batting legend VVS Laxman to pick Hardik Pandya for SRH, but he didn’t listen. The 40-year-old also made it clear that he is against the usage of derogatory words while bashing Hardik.
“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,” he added.
“There is nothing wrong in criticising the player, if you play, you have to go through that. It happened with Sunil Gavaskar, the great Sachin Tendulkar.. they never made anyone feel, they were bigger than the game. But I’m against the derogatory words used against Pandya.”
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨
Irfan Pathan confirmed that he was removed from commentary because he criticized Hardik Pandya and his fragile ego was hurt. pic.twitter.com/pwbWjnXi2t
— 𝐉𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐞 (@jod_insane) August 15, 2025
