Ranji Trophy 2018-19: Irfan Pathan makes the right noise prior to IPL with a 26-run over

Irfan Pathan was arguably one India’s most efficient all-rounders in world cricket and that was palpable after he made his debut against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground back in January 2004. His superlative Test hat-trick against Pakistan captured the supporters’ imagination. His last match for India came against South Africa in the 2012 World T20.

After plying his trade for Baroda in India’s domestic cricket, Pathan is currently representing Jammu and Kashmir in the ongoing edition of the Ranji Trophy. J&K are currently playing against Uttar Pradesh in Jammu and Irfan showed that he hasn’t run out of gas by any means. The left-hander laid into the opposition bowlers and scored 91 quick-fire runs from 76 deliveries.

Irfan shines with the bat

His knock was laced with 10 fours and five monstrous sixes, four of which came in one over off left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar. The first four balls of the over went for sixes and at that point in time, Irfan was in with a chance of going for the full monty. The bowler was left clueless as Irfan kept crossing the ropes with utter disdain. Unfortunately, he could only score a couple in the next ball.

The last ball turned out to be a dot. Nevertheless, the ferocious display of stroke-play took the bowler by surprise and destroyed the spinner’s figures somewhat. Even as Saurabh Kumar went on to pick up a six-wicket haul, Irfan took his team to a substantial score of 290 runs in 71.4 overs. He would now want to take that into his bowling and churn out an impressive performance.

In the meantime, the knock might have come at the right time for Irfan. The Indian Premier League (IPL) auction is set to take place on December 18 in Jaipur and the 34-year-old might have made a case for himself to get picked by a franchise. If he sends some batsmen packing tomorrow with the leather, it will be extremely hard to overlook him for the IPL.

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