Irfan Pathan is a professional cricket player, who was born on October 27, 1984 in Baroda, Gujarat, India. This all-rounder who is primarily a left-arm medium-fast bowler has made useful contributions as a left-handed batsman too for the Indian team.
Impressed with his performance for the Baroda Under-14 cricket team, Kiran More, national selector then, referred him to the MRF Pace Foundation, a coaching clinic in Chennai for training fast bowlers. On improving his bowling skills, Irfan Pathan was selected to play for the 2002 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, where he picked six wickets. He was selected for the India A squad, which played in England as well as for the domestic Challenger Series in 2003.
In the Asian One Day International (ODI) matches played in Pakistan towards the end of 2003 Irfan Pathan finished as the leading bowler with eighteen wickets to be chosen as the Player of the Tournament. He caught the attention of the media by claiming nine wickets, giving away just sixteen runs against Bangladesh and following it up with three Sri Lankan wickets in the finals. His remarkable performances helped the Indian team win the final and fetched him a place in the national team for the Border-Gavaskar series in Australia during the 2003-04 season.
In December 2003, Irfan Pathan made his international Test debut at the Adelaide Oval against Australia and dismissed Matthew Hayden to pick his first Test wicket. During India’s cricket tour to Pakistan in 2004, he took 12 wickets and gave a splendid bowling performance, sending down several maiden overs. His key performance helped India clinch its first series win over Pakistan after twenty years. For his commendable bowling display, he won the 2004 International Cricket Council (ICC) Emerging Player of the Year award.
During the two-Test match series against Bangladesh in 2005, Irfan Pathan claimed his first ten-wicket haul taking 5/45 in the first innings and 6/51 in the second innings of the first Test match in Dhaka. He won the Man of the Match Award for helping India to an innings victory. He took seven wickets in the next Test at Chittagong and was named the Man of the Series for his overall performance. In the Test series against Zimbabwe, Irfan Pathan took 21 wickets becoming the third bowler after cricketers like Johnny Briggs and Anil Kumble to make 21 dismissals in a two-match series. In 2006, he became the first bowler in the history of Test match cricket to take a hat-trick in the first over of a Test match in the third Test against Pakistan played in Karachi. He also began to show signs of developing into a genuine all-rounder and made his maiden Test century against Pakistan at Bangalore in 2007.
He made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Australia on January 9, 2004 and played 104 ODIs for India as of 2008. He has taken 148 ODI wickets at an average of 29.57.
He made his international Twenty20 (T20I) debut on Decemder 1, 2006 against South Africa at Johannesburg. At the inaugural World Twenty20 (T20) World Cup finals against Pakistan in South Africa, Irfan Pathan took three crucial wickets, including those of Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi in three balls and played a crucial role in India emerging as the world champions. For his outstanding performances (3/16), Irfan Pathan won Man of the Match award in the finals of the 2007 World Cup in South Africa.
Trained by Datta Gaekwad, former Indian cricket captain, Irfan Pathan started his competitive career with the Baroda Under-14 cricket team and soon progressed to the senior team, for which he made his debut during the 2000-01 season.
Owing to his all-round skills, Irfan Pathan was signed-in for a price of $925,000 by the Kings XI Punjab team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the 2008 season. He took fifteen wickets at an economy rate of 23.33 in the IPL.
Apart from playing cricket, Irfan Pathan has made a guest appearance in a Hindi movie titled Mujhse Shaadi Karoge.
