Irfan Pathan announces retirement from all forms of the game

Irfan Pathan, one of the best fast bowlers India has ever produced, has decided to hang his boots from all forms of the game. The left-arm pace-bowling all-rounder last played a competitive match on February 27 last year in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy turning up for Jammu & Kashmir. He returned with the figures of 2/32 with the ball and scored 10 runs in the game.

He was working with the team as mentor-cum-player after shifting from playing for his state team Baroda. As far as his international career is concerned, Irfan last donned the India jersey across any format back in 2012. However, he boasts of some amazing numbers during his nine-year illustrious international career.

Irfan Pathan played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20 Internationals for India and went on to pick as many as 301 wickets across all the formats. The fast bowler was the master of swinging the new ball both ways, especially in Tests, which earned him seven five-wicket hauls (in the innings) and two 10-match-wicket hauls.

He was no mug with the bat either and amassed 1105 runs in 40 Test innings at a decent average of 31.57 (with six fifties and 1 hundred). In the 50-over format, Pathan scored 1544 runs, at times batting at the top of the order, with five half-centuries to his name.

Irfan Pathan’s magical moments at the international level

Though Irfan Pathan hasn’t played any 50-over World Cup game, he was part of India’s triumph in the inaugural World T20 in 2007. Rather, he was the Man of the Match in the final against Pakistan where he picked three wickets for just 16 runs in his four-over spell. India defended 157 runs to win the title as Irfan scalped crucial wickets of Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi and Yasir Arafat.

However, the most memorable moment of Irfan Pathan’s career is the Test hat-trick against Pakistan in the first over of the match in 2006. Rather, he is the only player at the international level to pick three consecutive wickets in the opening over of the Test.

Coming back to his career, though the 35-year-old played his last international game for India in 2012, Irfan Pathan continued playing in the domestic circuit. He played a total of 122 first-class, 193 List-A and 177 T20 matches in his illustrious career. The all-rounder proved his mettle in every department of the game scoring 8979 runs to go with a massive 829 wickets (21 five-wicket hauls, three 10-match-wicket hauls and nine four-wicket hauls).

Although he is retiring, Irfan Pathan is likely to play in the foreign T20 leagues much like Yuvraj Singh and other few retired Indian cricketers depending on the clearance from the BCCI. Apart from that, he is already working as a commentator for Star Sports.

Watch – Yusuf Pathan’s match-winning knock vs MP in Ranji Trophy 2019-20