Irfan Pathan Reveals Touching Message From A Fan

Irfan Pathan retired from all forms of cricket on January 4. With a cricketing career spanning over 19 years, he has been one of the best players for India. Unfortunately, his career was marred by injuries at some point of time and at the same time he had form issues as well. He finally ended up playing only 29 Test matches in his career where he managed to score 1105 runs and pick 100 wickets.

In his final three appearances for India, he was named the man of the match in the year 2008 when he performed well with bat and ball. His all-round exploits helped India register a sensational victory in Perth. Nonetheless, he still doesn’t know why he was sidelined from the red-ball cricket shortly after that performance at the WACA.

Former India all-rounder raised his bar when he dismissed the likes of Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf in a row to register a hat-trick in 2006 Karachi Test. He also bowled a match-winning spell in the ODI series decider in Lahore and earned the man-of-the-match award in 2007 World T20 final in Johannesburg.

Irfan Pathan said that the only regret he had was not playing more games for India. He said that at the age of 27-28 when people start their careers and play till the age of 35, his career came to a sad ending when he already played as many as 301 international wickets when he was only 27 years old.

Pathan played for India in 120 ODIs (1544 runs and 173 wickets) and 24 T20 Internationals (172 runs and 28 wickets). Pathan first hogged the limelight when he took an incredible 9 for 16 against Bangladesh in a U-19 match in Pakistan. He was then drafted into the Indian side for the Australia tour later that year in 2002.

Pathan made his Test debut in the second match and troubled Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist. Irfan Pathan also said that he should have got more opportunities but it did not happen. Meanwhile, Irfan Pathan revealed a heart-touching message from a fan.

A special message from a fan for Irfan Pathan

After announcing his retirement, Irfan Pathan took to Instagram handle 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 up to 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 given me, India and the world. You’ll always be the best for me. Thank you Irfan,” concluded the fan.

In reply, Irfan Pathan wrote: “Thank you, buddy, Wish you all luck for your career.”