'You will be missed' - Yuvraj Singh pays tribute to Irfan Pathan after his retirement

Former India batsman Yuvraj Singh paid a glowing tribute to his ex-teammate and India allrounder Irfan Pathan who brought down curtains on his international career. On Saturday, Irfan Pathan retired from international and domestic cricket. He played senior-level cricket for nearly two decades, representing, India, Baroda and Jammu and Kashmir during his career.

Irfan Pathan made his debut during the 2003 Adelaide Test against Australia and made an instant impression with his ability to swing the ball. In the next 2-3 years, he lived up to the expectations. His reputation was at the very top when he picked up a sensational hat-trick in the very first over of the Karachi Test against Pakistan in 2006.

A year later, he was the Man of the Match when India lifted the inaugural T20 World Cup title in 2007. In the high-voltage clash against arch-rivals Pakistan, Irfan made the difference by picking up three wickets for just 16 runs in his full quota of four overs. But unfortunately, Irfan could not live up to the expectations later in his career and soon lost his place in the side.

Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan made some great memories together

He last played for India in 2012 but kept playing in IPL and domestic cricket after that. And as Irfan hung his boots, Yuvraj Singh took to Twitter to post an emotional message for him. Posting an old image of himself and Irfan, Yuvraj wrote:

“We shared sum gr8 epic moments on d field. We fought n argued like immature boys but v won like men, those gr8 moments brought us together specially winning d T20WC, outstanding spells N gritty innings U will b missed @IrfanPathan cu on d other side bro best wishes 4ur 2nd innings”

We shared sum gr8 epic moments on d field. We fought n argued like immature boys but v won like men, those gr8 moments brought us together specially winning d T20WC,outstanding spells N gritty innings U will b missed @IrfanPathan cu on d other side bro best wishes 4ur 2nd innings pic.twitter.com/GKYpfbntnp

— yuvraj singh (@YUVSTRONG12) January 4, 2020

Yuvraj and Irfan did make some great memories together. They were part of the teams that won the T20 World Cup in 2007 as well as the CB series in Australia in 2008. Apart from these two big wins, they also helped India win a number of games together.

While Irfan Pathan did not really reach the lofty heights he was expected to, he did manage to leave his mark in the game. Overall, he represented India in 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is over a span of 16 years and ended up with 301 international wickets in all formats. He also managed to score more than 2500 runs across all 3 formats of the game.

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