When Irfan Pathan first made his entry into the international arena, he was regarded as the best swing bowler to have played for India since Kapil Dev.
He came to the national side straight from Under-19 and proved the selectors right with his highly spirited performances.
Irfan Pathan made his Test debut for India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2003-04 and was a core member of the national team until a decline in form set in during 2006, forced him out of the team.
In early 2006, Irfan Pathan became the only bowler to take a Test hat-trick in the first over of the match. It was against Pakistan at Karachi.
When the Australian, Greg Chappell, became India”s coach in 2005, he identified Irfan”s batting prowess and helped him improve his batting skills. Pathan then tried to become a complete bowling all-rounder. He opened the batting on occasions in ODIs. He also scored 93 runs in a Test match in Dec 2005, playing against Sri Lanka in Delhi, when the regular opener, Virendra Sehwag was out of the Playing XI due to sickness.
Having played across formats, Irfan Pathan has had quite a few memorable bowling performances:
