Top 3 Unique records held by Irfan Pathan in Cricket

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan is celebrating his 39^th birthday on October 27, 2023. Pathan was one of the best all-rounders who played for India as he appeared in 29 Tests, 24 T20Is, and 120 ODIs for India from 2003-2012.

Pathan picked 100 Test wickets, 173 ODI wickets, and 28 T20I wickets. He also scored 1105 runs in Tests with one century. He made 1544 runs in ODIs with the best score of 83, while in T20Is, Pathan made 172 runs.

He was part of the Indian team that won the Test and ODI series in Pakistan in 2004, the T20 World Cup 2007 winning Indian side, and also featured in India’s only tri-series win in Australia in 2008. He had made an impressive debut against Australia in 2003 and his delivery to clean bowled Adam Gilchrist is still part of many highlight reels. As he celebrates his 39^th birthday, let's take a look at -

3 unique records Irfan Pathan holds in cricket:

1. Irfan Pathan opened the batting and bowling for India in all three formats

Irfan Pathan was once touted as the answer to India’s prayers for a proper pace bowling all-rounder after Kapil Dev and Pathan did well to live up to those expectations during his career. During the Greg Chappell era, Pathan got the most chances to showcase his skills with the bat and he took full advantage of the same.    

He is one of the few players for India who have opened both the batting and bowling in international cricket. And perhaps the only one to do so in all three formats of the game. He opened the innings for India in the 2005 Delhi Test against Sri Lanka. Then in the 2006 Mumbai Test, he opened that batting against England. But in the 2008 Adelaide Test, he opened with Virender Sehwag in both innings. 

In ODIs, Pathan opened just once, in 2005, when he walked out to bat with Sachin Tendulkar. But he got out for a duck and never got to bat at the top again. In T20Is, Pathan opened the innings in the T20 World Cup 2012 match against England.