When he made his debut for India, Irfan Pathan was touted to be the all-rounder who would be the solution to India's search for the next Kapil Dev. However, Pathan never quite lived up to the early expectations and saw his form oscillate and eventually lose his place in the national side.
Pathan's performance in the ICC World T20 in 2007 helped India to the first ever World T20 title as he picked up 10 wickets at just 14.90. After his comeback to the Indian side in the ODI series in Sri Lanka in 2012, Pathan suffered an injury setback and since, has not featured for the national team.
However, Pathan has slowly started to come to his own in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy where he is showing glimpses of what he was in his prime for India. In the two matches he has played for Baroda so far, he picked up six wickets at an average of just 7.16.
In the opening match against Assam, Pathan's bowling exploits gave Baroda a huge victory as he finished with bowling figures of 5/13 in four overs. This was his best bowling performance in his 151-match T20 career.
Although Pathan did not bowl as well in the second match against the Railways, he picked up one wicket, that of Railways opener, Asad Pathan. Irfan Pathan posted a video of the dismissal on his official Twitter account terming it as “not a bad bad delivery”.
Asad Pathan, who had scored an unbeaten 81 in Railways’ first match, looked set to score another big one as he was unbeaten on 16. But, Irfan Pathan had other ideas as he produced a peach of a delivery that went through bat and pads and uprooted the off-stump, a sight that every fast bowler enjoys. The 31-year-old bowler followed the dismissal with a celebration to match.
With India recalling 36-year-old Ashish Nehra back to the national T20I squad, it will give older Indian bowlers, like Irfan Pathan, some hope to play for the national side once again.
Pathan will hope to continue building on his brilliant start to the domestic T20 tournament and grab the attention of the Indian selectors.
Here is the video of the dismissal (courtesy of Irfan Pathan official Twitter page):
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