(AB0VE) IRFAN PATHAN,DILIP VENGSARKAR

Durban: “Right now, I can’t say if a precedent has been set... Irfan (Pathan) hadn’t been bowling well, which is why he’s going home... I’m sure he will make a comeback and domestic cricket is going to benefit him,” is what the selection committee chairman, Dilip Vengsarkar, had to say the day after an unprecedented decision was taken.

Speaking to The Telegraph on Tuesday morning, he added: “As I’ve said, the decision was made collectively and Irfan agreed that he would be better off bowling, say, 100 overs (in two first-class matches for Baroda) at home instead of sitting in the dressing room during the last two Tests in South Africa...”

That Vengsarkar played safe is understandable. “I suppose such situations will have to be handled on a player-by-player basis... I can’t declare we’ve taken a decision for all time to come... Also, how can we assume somebody else, too, is going to go through a similar patch?”

While it’s definitely better to be playing instead of serving as the drinks man, the top question is: Who will sort out Pathan’s problems in India? And, who is going to monitor his progress?

The questions, perhaps, ought to have been answered before Pathan was asked to start packing. He may begin the journey home on Wednesday.

Incidentally, asked whether he’d discussed his “suggestion” for a bowling coach — Bruce Reid did that job, for a while, in 2003-04 — Vengsarkar replied: “No... We haven’t talked about it...”

Bit unusual that.