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:
- 7/59 in the Second Test against Zimbabwe at Harare in September 2005
The Second and Final Test match between India and Zimbabwe was played between 20th and 22nd September 2005, at the Harare Sports Club, Harare.
Put into bat, the home team struggled to face the onslaught on Indian pace battery consisting of Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan. They were tormented by the guile of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
Pathan provided the necessary breakthrough in the very third delivery of the match by removing one of the openers, Brendan Taylor (4), who holed out to the first slip fielder, Rahul Dravid, the ‘best in the business.’
Ten overs later, Irfan struck again, removing the other opener, Terry Duffin (12), who was caught by another great fielder who normally does not drop catches, VVS Laxman.
Thereafter he went on to claim the wickets of the then Zimbabwean skipper and wicket-keeper, Tatenda Taibu (0), Hamilton Masakadza (27), Andy Blignaut (13), Keith Dabengwa (18) and Blessing Mahwire (14).
Fiery bowling display by Pathan restricted Zimbabwe to a very low score of 161 runs in their first innings.
Irfan Pathan returned with the analysis of 15.2-4-59-7. With the bat, he also scored 32 runs.
India replied with a massive 366 runs aided by great innings by Gautam Gambhir (97), Rahul Dravid (99) and their second-wicket partnership of 123 runs. India took a lead of 205 runs.
Another wonderful bowling display by Irfan Pathan in the second innings, when he picked up the wickets of Brendan Taylor (4), Terry Duffin (10), Hamilton Masakadza (71), Charles Coventry (25) and Keith Dabengwa (0), restricted the Zimbs to 223 runs thus requiring India to score 19 runs for a win. This they did pretty simply and won the match by 10 wickets.
Having won the First Test at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, by an innings and 90 runs, India also won the series 2-0.
Irfan Pathan’s second innings analysis read 19-3-67-5, while the match analysis was an impressive 34.2-7-126-12.
Irfan Pathan was awarded the Player of the Match for his performance.
In the first Test also Pathan”s bowling numbers were very impressive. He bowled 30.5 overs, of which 7 have been maidens, took 9 wickets, giving away 111 runs. He also scored 52 runs in the only innings that India batted.
Irfan Pathan was awarded the Player of the Match for his outstanding performance.
Eventually, he was awarded the Player of the Series for his overall display, both with the ball and the bat.
- 5/27 in the third ODI match against Zimbabwe at Harare in August 2005 at Harare
The tri-nation ODI series involving the hosts Zimbabwe, New Zealand and India was played in Zimbabwe during August/Sept 2005.
The third match in the series was played between India and Zimbabwe on 29th August 2005, at Harare Sports Club, Harare.
Put into bat, India, backed by a well made 65 runs by Mohd Kaif, a 56-run contribution by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and an unbeaten 53* runs by Yuvraj Singh, put up 226 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 50 overs.
Chasing 227 runs for a win, the home team found the Indian pace attack of Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, quite ‘hot to handle’. Unable to bear the onslaught they succumbed to a paltry 65 runs in 24.3 overs with just Heath Streak (18*) and Prosper Utseya (11) reaching double-digits.
While Agarkar claimed 4 wickets, Irfan returned with the analysis of 10-3-27-5.
India won the match by a massive 161 runs.
For his excellent bowling performance, Irfan Pathan
was awarded the Player of the Match.
- 3/16 against Pakistan at Johannesburg in T20I Final in 2007
The year 2007 saw ICC launch the T20I World Cup which was hosted by South Africa. It was a new experience for all the competing teams, playing in such an iconic tournament.
Though all the teams had the experience of playing in the 50-over World Cup, this was something different.
The final encounter for the coveted trophy was played between the arch-rivals, India and Pakistan, on 24th September 2007, at The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, to a packed audience.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, Dhoni-lead India, put up 157 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs. This was backed by a spirited batting displayed by Gautam Gambhir (75, 76m, 54b, 8*4, 2*6), and an unbeaten 30* runs off 16 deliveries with 2 fours and a six by Rohit Sharma.
Chasing 158 runs for a win, Pakistan had scored 145 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 19 overs and needed 12 runs in the last over. Thinking ‘out of the box’, the Indian skipper brought on the relatively inexperienced medium pacer, Joginder Sharma, to bowl the final over of the match.
Joginder, giving away 7 runs (including one wide) in 2 deliveries, managed to keep his nerves and bowled the third, a full length on the stumps to Misbah-ul-Haq, who tried to scoop the ball over a short fine leg. He miscued and the ball ballooned high in the air as a sprinting Sreesanth, made no mistake and held on to the catch.
India went on to win the match by 5 runs and won the trophy also.
Earlier while RP Singh provided the initial breakthrough and Joginder Sharma joined in by removing Younis Khan (24), Irfan Pathan picked up the wickets of Shoaib Malik (8), Shaheed Afridi (0) and Yaseer Arafat (15).
Finally, Irfan returned with the best bowling analysis of 4-0-16-3.
While one sibling, Yusuf Pathan, made his T20I debut in the match, the other sibling, Irfan Pathan was awarded the Player of the Match.