Veteran Indian batsman Suresh Raina has recently recalled the time when his former teammate Irfan Pathan used to be a big name at the peak of his career and even the pacer was compared with the legendary Pakistan speedster Wasim Akram.
Raina had made his India debut in 2005 during the Tri-series in Sri Lanka involving West Indies as well, at that time Irfan was already a big and famous personality not only in India but across the world.
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Pathan, the former all-rounder, burst on the international scene at the age of 19 during the 2003-04 tour of Australia and didn’t take much time to capture the hearts of the cricketing folklore with his precocious left-arm seam and swing along with brisk pace, and of course his curly long hair as well.
With his extreme talent along with an additional batting benefit, Irfan became a regular in the Indian team as well as a poster boy of the Indian cricket even in the early days of his cricketing career.
In a recent Instagram Live session with Irfan, Raina reminisced about those days when everybody used to compare the left-arm fast bowler being hailed as the next Wasim Akram in the making.
Raina said during the conversation, “Everybody used to compare you (Irfan) with Wasim Akram. The long and curly hair, almost like the brand ambassador of head and shoulders. When I came into the Indian side in 2005 you were already such a big name, very famous.”
Noteworthy, Irfan retired from all forms of cricket last year. He played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs, and 24 T20Is for India in which he managed 100, 173, and 28 wickets respectively. The all-rounder also has 1105 Test runs and 1544 ODI runs to his name.
(With Hindustan Times Inputs)
