Irfan Pathan Retires: Five Best Moments From His Career

There was Kapil Dev, Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Shrinath. And then there was Irfan Pathan, the youngster, who injected a fresh air of energy in India’s fast bowling department. His Test debut in 2003 against Australia wasn’t a promising one. As his career progressed, he went on to trouble the best in the business and was deemed as the reincarnation of Wasim Akram. Amid this, the left-arm seamer remained inconsistent in his overall career, mainly tussling with injuries.

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As a result of his fluctuating returns and being injury prone, the all-rounder stayed in and out of the side regularly. He made his final comeback in the year 2011 against West Indies in the ODI series an also earned a berth for the Commonwealth bank series. Yet, in the end, a career full of promise remained unfulfilled. The 35-year old played his last game for India in the ICC World T20 in 2012. Pathan featured in 120 ODIs, 29 Tests, and 24 T20 fixtures for India from 2003 to 2012.

With Irfan Pathan pulling curtains on his international career, we take a look at five glorious moments of his career:

Becoming the only bowler to take a Test hat-trick in the first over:

Back in 2004 before the series against Pakistan, Javed Miandad took a dig at Irfan Pathan, saying that he is a gully bowler and the type found in every corner on their nation’s streets. Inda were coming off the tour of Australia where the left-arm seamer bowled a magical delivery.

He returned to the same territory in 2006, knocking over three Pakistan batsmen in the first over in the third Test in Karachi. Irfan castled three elite batsmen in Salman Butt, Younis Khan, and Mohammad Yousuf. The 35-year old all-rounder is the only bowler in Tests to bag a hat-trick in the first over of the innings.

Man of the match in the T20 World Cup 2007:

The final of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 witnessed a final for the ages. India and Pakistan squared off against each other to claim the ultimate prize in the shortest format of the game. India batted first and set a target of 158 for their arch-rivals, lead by Gautam Gambhir’s indispensable innings of 75.

Irfan Pathan claimed three crucial wickets to dent Pakistan’s pursuit of the score. He bounced out the skipper Shoaib Malik, dismissing Shahid Afridi for a first-ball duck, and finally clattering Yasir Arafat stumps for 15. The men in blue clinched the trophy by a narrow margin of five runs.

Read More: Irfan Pathan Announces Retirement From All Forms Of Cricket

Player of the match in the third Test in Perth, 2008

A trail of umpiring controversies tarnished the high-profile series of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2007-08 due to which India’s victory in Perth in the third Test was a historical one. Irfan Pathan contributed to this famous win through the bat as well as the ball. He batted at number eight against the likes of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, and Shaun Tait and scored 28 off 44 deliveries out of India’s 330.

He took the wickets of Chris Rogers and Phil Jaques notably as the tourists gained a lead of 118. In India’s second innings, the Baroda all-rounder batted at number three and mustered a knock of 46 off 64 balls as India set a target of 413 for Ricky Ponting’s men. It was too much for Australia as they went down fighting to get dismissed for 340. They lost the Test by 72 runs as Pathan picked three wickets and received the man of the match for his all-round contribution.

Figures of 20-2 against Pakistan in the group stage in the T20 World Cup 2007:

If the final of this tournament was a humdinger, the encounter between the two sides was nothing less than that even in the group stage. India scraped through to 141 in their allotted 20 overs, thanks to Robin Utthappa’s 50 and some contributions from MS Dhoni and Irfan Pathan.

It was Pakistan’s match to lose from this spot, and they bungled the chase to finish at 141 too. Among the Indian bowlers, Irfan Pathan took two invaluable scalps of Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik to wind up with 4-1-20-2. The men in blue eventually beat Pakistan through the method of bowl-out. Even though Irfan Pathan didn’t receive the player of the match award, his role was crucial in restricting the opposition after scoring a modest total.

Maiden Test hundred against Pakistan:

Coming in the third Test of this series, India had taken a lead of 1-0 by winning the first Test in Delhi. The second Test in Kolkata resulted in a draw. The third Test in Bangalore witnessed three centuries in the first innings, including a double hundred from Sourav Ganguly. However, it is best known for the hundred from Irfan Pathan.

He reached the landmark by slamming a six off leg-spinner Danish Kaneria to move on from 96 to 102. Pathan was dismissed for 102, and that was only Test century till date. He also took one wicket in the match and remained unbeaten on 21 in the second innings. The third game ended in a draw and India eventually took the series by 1-0. In a 29-Test career, Pathan gave quite a lot of noteworthy performances.

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