Irfan Pathan – The complete ‘Team’ man

A bowling figure of 25.2-12-47-6 looks very impressive in any level of cricket, be it domestic or international. A scalp of ‘five-for’ is what a bowler would always be looking to achieve, at the minimum, in any game.

Playing for Baroda, in his 103^rd First Class game, his first game in 2015-16 season, Irfan Pathan, returned with this bowling figure in the first innings of the game against Gurajat being currently played at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium Valsad.

Irfan claimed his 18^th ‘five-wicket’ haul in the tournament.

However, his valiant efforts did not come to the aid of his team, since they left the opponents ‘off the hook’. Some poor bowling display by Hardik Pandya (27-8-102-2) and Swapnil Singh (30-3-99-0) helped Gujarat get away from the clutches and notch up a huge 505 runs in their first innings.

Gujarat were also successful in claiming three top rung wickets of Baroda for a paltry 88 runs on the board, opening up an opportunity for them to take a crucial first innings lead.

Commencing his career as a fast-medium swing and seam bowler, Irfan made a foray into the national team soon after turning 19 years of age.

He was soon compared to the legendary Pakistani bowler, the Sultan of swing, Wasim Akram.

Making his Test debut in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in December 2003, against Australia at Adelaide Oval, Irfan could not come up with a commendable performance. He picked up just 1/136 in the first innings in his spell of 27 overs and 0/24 in the second innings in the 7 overs that he sent down.

He was dropped for the third Test. Playing in the fourth and final Test, Pathan picked up 2/80 off 26 overs in the first innings and 1/26 off 8 overs in the second.

Pathan made his ODI debut in the tri-nation tournament against Australia and Zimbabwe that followed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2003-04. He came out as the leading wicket-taker. He took 16 wickets at an average of 31 in his maiden ODI series.

He won his first Player of the Match award at the international level in the tournament, for taking 4/24 against Zimbabwe at the WACA Ground in Perth in his eighth ODI game.

In the five-match ODI and 3-match Test series’ against Pakistan, in 2004 that followed, Irfan, playing in the third, fourth and fifth ODI games, picked up 8 wickets, giving away 143 runs in 30 overs.

Featuring in all the three Test matches in the series, Pathan picked up 12 wickets and proved to be the catalyst for India’s One-day international and Test series wins.

Thus, he cemented his position in the national team and was named ‘Emerging Player of the Year 2004, by the International Cricket Council.

However, in the twin-Test series against Bangladesh in 2004, Pathan had wonderful numbers to display. He returned with the figures of 16-5-45-5 and 15-5-51-6 in the two innings of the first Test played at Bangabandhu National Stadium. Dhaka, in December 2004. In the process, he helped India win the match by an innings and 140 runs.

Pathan was adjudged the Player of the Match.

The second Test played at MA Aziz Stadium. Chittagong in December, 2004, saw him pick up 2/86 in the first innings, giving away 86 runs in his spell of 23 overs and pick up another ‘five wicket’ haul in the second innings (9-2-32-5), enabling India to win the Test by an innings and 83 runs. India also won the series 2-0.

He ended the series with a tally of 18 wickets. However, he could not do much with the bat, scoring only 9 runs in the two innings that he (and India) batted.

Irfan was adjudged the Player of the Series.

In late 2004, he was offered a Grade B central contract by BCCI.

Entry of Greg Chappell in 2005, as the coach of Team India, brought some changes in Irfan’s career. Chappell identified Pathan’s batting potential and helped him improve the batting techniques. Irfan was striving to become a bowling ‘all rounder’ that Team India was desperately in need of.

The second innings of second Test match against Sri Lanka played at Firoz Shah Kot8la, Delhi, in December 2005, saw Irfan Pathan don the role of an opener.

Having batted at No 8 in the first knock, skipper Dhoni entrusted the responsibility of opening the innings to Irfan and the regular opener, Gautam Gambhir.

Having taken a first innings lead of 60 runs, India went on set a target of 436 for Sri Lanka to chase and win the match. This was possible due to the batting efforts of Irfan Pathan, who went on to score 93 runs, batting for 207 minutes, facing 143 deliveries with the help of 10 fours and 2 sixes.

Pathan also had an impressive bowling figure of 36-10-72-4 in the match which India won by 188 runs and went 1-0 up in the series.

Gradually, he rose to No. 2 in the ICC’s ODI rankings for all-rounders and was also in the top five in the Test rankings.

The third Test match played against Pakistan at National Stadium. Karachi, in February 2006, saw Irfan establish a record.

India, under the leadership of Rahul Dravid, won the toss and chose to field.

Bowling the very first over of the ,match, Irfan Pathan removed one of the opener, Salman Butt (0, 3m, 4b), the skipper Younis Khan (0, 1m, 1b) and Mohammad Yousuf (0, 2m 1b) in the fourth, fifth and sixth deliveries to become the first ever bowler to register a HAT-TRICK in the very first over of a Test match. Pakistan were 0 for the loss of 3 wickets.

Pathan went on to pick another 2 wickets in the innings and returned with the figure of 17.1-4-61-5 in the first innings. He picked up 1/106 off 25 overs in the second innings, this finishing the match with the numbers 42.1-7-167-6.

Wielding the bat, he scored 40 runs (95m, 51b, 6*4, 1*6) in the first knock and followed it up 4 (9m, 6b, 1*4) in the second.

All these came in a losing cause as Pakistan won the Test by a huge margin of 341 runs and won the three-Test series 1-0.

Pathan began to gradually lose his pace and swing. His wicket-taking ability went down the hill. Although his contribution with the bat remained good, he was not considered to be a batting specialist. He was eventually dropped from the team in both Tests and ODIs by the end of 2006, and by 2007 was no longer in the squad.

Being in oblivion for some time, Pathan was recalled to do national duty in the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in South Africa in September 2007.

He picked up 2/20 against Pakistan, 0/16 against New Zealand, 3/37 against England and 0/16 against SA, in his spell of 4 overs in all the games, in the league stage.

Pathan claimed 2/44 against Australia in the semi-final and went on to pick up 3/16 in his four-over spell in the Final against Pakistan and helped India win the title.

He was adjudged the Player of the Match in the finals.

Pathan’s success at T20 World Cup saw him being called back into the ODI squad. However, his economy rate suffered and he was duly dropped.

After a long gap of 19 months, Irfan was recalled to the Test squad for the third Test against Pakistan played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, in December 2007.

It was a grand come back since, Pathan registered his maiden Test century (and the only one, thus far). Coming in to bat at No 8 in the first innings, he went on to notch up 102 runs, batting for 173 minutes, facing 133 deliveries with the help of 10 fours and 4 sixes. He also followed it up with an unbeaten 21 runs (59m, 43b, 3*4) in the second knock.

Pathan has, thus far, featured in 29 Test matches and has scored 1,105 runs at an average of 31.57 with 102 as his individual best. He has a century and 6 half-centuries to his credit.

He also picked up 100 wickets at an average of 32.36 and an economy rate of 3.26 with 7/59 and 12/126 being the best performances in an innings and in a match respectively. To his credit, he also has two ‘four-wicket’ hauls, seven ‘five-wicket’ hauls and two ‘ten-wicket’ hauls.

In the ODI segment, Irfan has played in 120 games, scoring 1,544 runs at an average of 23.39 with 83 as his highest. He has 5 half-centuries to his credit.

He has also picked up 173 wickets at an average of 29.72 and economy rate of 5.26. His best bowling performance has been 5/27. He is also credited with five ‘four-wicket’ hauls and two ‘five-wicket’ hauls.

Irfan is fighting against all odds to make it to the national team. The current crop of selectors seems to be giving more importance to the domestic performance of the players and rewarding those who really put up a good show. Ravindra Jadeja is a classic example.

Hopefully, Irfan also would be able to further his chances of getting a recall to do national duty, by putting up stellar performances in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2015-16.

Pathan Brothers, Yusuf and Irfan have set up a cricket academy under the agies, The Cricket Academy Of Pathans. They have also tied up with former India coach Greg Chappell and Cameron Tradell as chief mentors. It is expected that Chappell would coach the coaches of the Academy.