2007 World T20 winning Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan called time on his cricket career on January 4, 2019, in a TV show on Star Sports, aptly titled “Farewell Irfan: The Swing King”. It brought down curtains on one of the most unfulfilled careers which began promisingly in 2003 in Adelaide against Australia.
Irfan Pathan hailed from Baroda and was known for his pace and ability to generate tremendous swing both in the air and off the wicket. He gave quite an exhibition of his talent, clean bowling Adam Gilchrist with an amazing swinging yorker in the SCG Test of the same series. He then had a fruitful tour of Pakistan, where he stood out with his ability to bat as well.
Irfan Pathan announces retirement from all forms of cricket
The best moments of his career came in 2006 and 2007 when he became the first bowler to pick up a hat-trick in the first over of a Test when he removed Pakistan’s Salman Butt, Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf on a green turf in Karachi. Then in 2007, against the same opponents in the finals of the first-ever ICC World T20 in South Africa, he picked three wickets in the final and was named Man of the match.
Injuries and Greg Chappell pushing him to become a batsman rather than an all-rounder hindered his career badly. He lost his pace and swing in the process, and though he scored a brilliant Test ton against Pakistan at home, by 2012, Irfan Pathan had played his last international match for Men in Blue.
He ends his career with 1105 runs and 100 wickets in 29 Tests and 1544 runs and 173 wickets in 120 ODIs. He also picked 28 wickets and made 172 runs in 24 T20Is for India.
The BCCI shared a special homage to Irfan Pathan on his retirement with the caption, “Test hat-trick ✅ T20I World Championship triumph ✅ Over 300 wickets in international cricket ✅ We wish @IrfanPathan well as he retires from all forms of cricket.”
Tributes poured in from former teammates and Indian cricket fraternity wished him the best of luck for his future on Twitter.
Here are some of the tweets:
