'My childhood is officially coming to an end' - Irfan Pathan reveals heartwarming message from a fan

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan recently brought down curtains on his cricket career. Having fallen out-of-favour with Team India, Irfan decided to call it quits and brought an end to a career that spanned for 15 years. Widely regarded as one of the most talented allrounders to have played for India, Irfan retired at just 35.

The southpaw last played a competitive game in February 2019 during the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy for Jammu and Kashmir. Irfan’s decision to hang up his boots was on expected lines as he didn’t even put his name in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction pool in December. Pathan’s last T20 appearance for the Men in Blue was against South Africa in 2012 at Colombo.

He made his Test debut against Australia in Adelaide in 2003 and picked a total of 100 wickets in the longest format of the game. Irfan will always be remembered by the Indian fans for his historic first-over hat-trick against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi in 2006. He became the second Indian after Harbhajan Singh to take a Test hat-trick.

In ODIs, he took 173 wickets in 118 innings. One of the finest moments of Irfan’s career came in 2007 when he was the Man of the Match in the final of T20 World Cup. Irfan picked up three wickets while giving away just 16 runs as India beat arch-rivals Pakistan to lift the inaugural T20 World Cup. He was also a decent batsman.

In 87 ODI innings, he scored 1544 runs including five fifties. Irfan’s performance in Tests was even better. He has a Test century to his name that came against Pakistan as he aggregated 1,105 runs in 40 Test innings.

Special message from a fan for Irfan Pathan

Just over a week after announcing his retirement, Irfan revealed a very heartwarming message for him from one of his many fans. The ex-allrounder took to Instagram to post a picture of that message from the fan on his story and captioned it: “Msgs like these” followed by a couple of emojis. The message was indeed special as the fan hailed Irfan as his hero.

“You were the bowler I used to look upto while growing. For me you were the best in this world and you still are,” wrote the fan.

“From getting the ICC emerging player of the year to getting a hattrick in the first over of the match vs Pakistan. That inswinging yorker at 144km/h to get rid of Justin Langer. I’ve lived every moment and enjoyed, with you, while you were there on the field. My heart wrenches seeing you retire. My childhood is official [officially] coming to an end.

“Thank you for everything you’ve give me, India and the world. You’ll always be the best for me. Thank you Irfan,” concluded the fan.