Irfan Pathan, a famous Indian cricketer who has played all formats as an all-rounder celebrates his birthday today. He is one of those cricketers of the Indian team who has made a lot of contribution in a very less time. Although he isn’t a part of the mainstream cricket, the player is leading the Baroda team in the ongoing Ranji Trophy tournament.
Irfan Pathan Facts
On the occasion of Pathan’s 33rd birthday, here are some interesting facts about the all-rounder:
• Soon after turning 19, he was picked by the national team and was even compared to the legendary Pakistani player Wasim Akram.
• In early 2006, Pathan became the only bowler to strike a test hat-trick in the first over of the match against Pakistan.
Irfan Pathan’s Hat-trick against Pakistan (Image Courtesy: Sportskeeda)
• He was named as the 2004 Emerging Player of the Year by International Cricket Council.
• He played a crucial role in India’s victory against Pakistan in the ODI and test series in the year 2014. In late 2014, he took 18 wickets in two test matches against Bangladesh.
• In the presence of Greg Chappell as the coach of the Indian cricket team, Pathan showcased an exemplary performance with both batting and bowling. He even achieved no.2 rank in ODI and was among top 5 in the test rankings.
• During 2008-09 in India’s tour of Sri Lanka, In the one-off, India was chasing a target score of 172. The opening by Virendra Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir led to a poor start with just 14 runs. Then came Yuvraj and Raina who scored in the 30s.
By the time India reached to its 16th over, the score was 115 for 7 and 57 more runs were needed to win. At this point, the Pathan brothers- Yusuf and Irfan built up a partnership of 59 runs by scoring 22 off 10 balls and 33 off 16 balls, respectively. India won the match with four balls to spare.
Irfan Pathan with Yusuf Pathan during the win against Sri Lanka (Image Courtesy: Cric Info)
It has been five years since Pathan has played any ODI or T20 match. Besides, he played a test match for India nine years ago. However, he hasn’t stopped playing cricket. In a recent interview, he admitted to the fact that there isn’t much time left and he is “standing on thin ice”.
Well, clearly Irfan Pathan isn’t happy for being dropped from the team but he is still spending day and night to realize his dreams. We hope he achieves all his goals and makes his fans proud.
