Participants at the 4km Fraternity Race in Siliguri on Friday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, Sept. 18: Irfan Pathan considers Sourav Ganguly his role model for staging a comeback to Team India.

“When one is trying for a comeback, one should set Sourav Ganguly as role model. It does not matter where you are from — be it Calcutta or any part of the country — one must get motivation from him when the question of comeback arises,” Pathan, born in Gujarat’s Baroda, said today.

The 24-year-old all-rounder arrived here in the afternoon to inaugurate the 25th edition of an annual road race of Baghajatin Athletic Club.

The Team India discard, who had played his last One-Day International on February 8 against Sri Lanka, is now eyeing the Challengers Trophy to return to the Dhoni-brigade.

“I am going to improve my bowling and batting skills equally for the tournament and hopefully this will help me get back into the Indian team,” the left-arm medium-fast bowler who is also a left-hand batsman told journalists on the club premises.

Pathan believes that test cricket will not be affected with the advent of shorter version of the game. “Twenty20 has made the game global and even the US is now showing its interest in cricket, which is good for the game. But this (limited over cricket) will not hamper the status of test cricket,” he said.

The all-rounder landed at Bagdogra Airport around 1.30pm and flagged off the 21km-long road race there. Later, he inaugurated a 4km-long Fraternity Race from Mallaguri, which had also been organised by the club.

The cricketer is no stranger to Siliguri. He had visited the town with his former skipper Ganguly five years ago. Overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response of sports-lovers, he promised to return here and help develop the game.

For local boy Wriddhiman Saha, Pathan had a word for appreciation too. “I think he has a good chance to get into the Indian squad,” he said.