Irfan Pathan is an Indian cricket player who was born on October 27, 1984, in Vadodara, in Gujarat. Irfan Pathan bowls primarily as a left-arm medium swing bowler, although on occasions, he has to resort to batting.

Early Life of Irfan Pathan
Pathan shot to fame from a very ordinary background. Pathan grew up with his half-brother Yusuf in a mosque in Surat, in a poor family. His father was the muzzein and desired that his sons to become Muslim scholars. But the Pathan and his brother, Yusuf Pathan, were immensely inclined to cricket. Pathan went through stringent training sessions, to improve upon his innate prowess. His family`s intense support and the coaching of the ex-Indian captain, Datta Gaekwad, helped Irfan to rise at the helm of affairs.

Pathan was chosen for participation in the Under-14 Baroda cricket team. Irfan was rewarded for his potential, a series of promotions. Next he climbed up the stairs of the Under-15 level to play for Baroda (Vadodara) in a national competition. His good performance got him gifted a brand new set of cricket equipment. Pathan entered the sphere of first-class cricket the 2000-01 seasons. His inaugural participation was in the Ranji Trophy, as a Baroda cricket player, wherein the Baroda team became the champion. The winning team next ascended the Irani Trophy Contest and Pathan gave a fascinating performance. The MRF Pace Foundation game, held at Chennai saw him in a much advanced form, than earlier.

Career of Irfan Pathan
Kiran More, located in him the promising cricketer. Early in 2002, Irfan Pathan was featured in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. The talented Pathan, annexed six wickets.

In 2003, he was offered the opportunity to play for the India A team, going out on a tour to England. Pathan took part in the domestic Challenger Trophy Cricket. Towards the end of 2003, Pathan clinched 18 wickets for the India Under-19 team in the Asian One-Day International contest that occurred in Pakistan. Twice he had emerged to be the highest wicket-conqueror.

Irfan Pathan Finally his 3/33 in the final match of India Vs Sri Lanka in 2003-04`s Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, paved his inclusion into the national team.

He made his ODI debut in the Australia Vs India match at Melbourne, on January 9, 2004.

While the central charm of seam and swing bowling in Indian cricket, Irfan Pathan, appeared first in the Test of Australia Vs India at Adelaide Oval on December 2003. He opened the bowling, at the tender age of 19. He was called to play in place of the injured Zaheer Khan in the fourth Test of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground. This time Pathan sent stalwarts like Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting out of the crease, with a radiant figure of 3/106.

It was time for Irfan Pathan to consolidate his position in the international realms, and he did it with utmost expertise. In the subsequent ODI tri-nation tournament against Australia and Zimbabwe, Pathan turned out to be the topmost wicket-taker. He bagged 16 splendid wickets at an average of 31. Along with the bright statistics of a two three-wicket hauls against Australia, Pathan was bestowed upon with career-first international Man of the Match award in the tournament.

2004 Test tour to Pakistan, Irfan Pathan wielded his weapon of pace bowling and gained 12 wickets. He chiefly bowled in maiden over, more than any other bowler, which courted triumph. Expectedly in the second Test at Lahore, Pathan attested his batting-power, with a praiseworthy 49, at the time of a failure of the batting order.

Pathan`s ODI performance equalled his quality in Test cricket. He seized eight wickets at an average of 17.8 in three ODIs. This consisted of the three top-order wickets in the fifth ODI at Lahore.

Irfan Pathan, the bowling-ace, can swing ball in both directions. Deservedly, he was honoured with the title of the ICC Emerging Player of the Year at its 2004 Awards ceremony.

Pathan`s output was appreciable in ODIs of the 2004 Asian Cup in Sri Lanka. He made glory his natural companion, by surpassing all other bowlers from different nations. He picked up 14 wickets at 16.28 with three three-wicket hauls. Similar was the performance-graph in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy. He plucked 5 wickets at an average of 9.

Pathan meanwhile, reached 55 against Australia in October 2004 in Bengaluru. At Bangladesh, in December, Pathan took 5/45 and 6/51. Many of his wickets were got LBW out, in the First Test in Dhaka, which gave him his pinnacle of perfection, the first ten-wicket haul. He also received his first Man of the Match award for his match-winning deliveries.

Year 2005 was a disappointing phase in Pathan`s life. All that he could collect was 6 wickets at 68.33 in the home Test series against Pakistan. He suffered occasional exclusions. Pathan joined Middlesex County Cricket Club for the English country season, and he began restoring himself in his form.

Pathan made a fair comeback in the ODI team for the 2005 Indian Oil Cup, conducted at Sri Lanka in August. Pathan accumulated 6 wickets, after playing all the matches. In the Videocon Triangular Series in Zimbabwe, he fetched 10 wickets at 16.1 in four matches, added to a half-century. He attained his ODI zenith of feat, a resplendent 5/27 against Zimbabwe in Harare. India had a 2-0 series win, attributed to him.

Test in Harare, witnessed his career best 7/59 haul, and the second ten-wicket match haul to create a record ten wicket victory. The man of the match, with 21 wickets was him and was crowned the Man of the Series. Irfan Pathan is the third bowler to follow the footsteps of his illustrious predecessors, Anil Kumble and Johnny Briggs to take 21 wickets in a two-match series

Chappel had innovated by utilising his batting caliber. Pathan who batted at the third wicket stand at Nagpur, in the first ODI against Sri Lanka, struck 83 runs from 70 balls and helped India to escalate to a massive 350 for 6 wickets.

In opposition to South Africa in Bangalore, Pathan landed up with a 3/23 and a scorecard of 37 runs .In the second test series against Sri Lanka, Pathan opened to knock 93 runs, wonderfully.

This A-grade cricketer of 2005 of Board of Control for Cricket in India erected a mind-blowing 90 in a double century partnership with wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Faisalabad. In the Third Test in Karachi, Pathan tasted the first ever hat-trick in the first over of a Test match and the first Indian to generate a hat-trick in an away Test.

2006, Pathan underwent the bad patch of drop outs from team. Back in 2007`s September, for the ICC Twenty 20 World Tournament, held at Durban in South Africa, he uprooted the vital wickets of Pakistan`s classy batsmen, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, and Yasir Arafat in the crucial final against Pakistan. He was endowed with the felicitated "Man of the Match" award, for his spectacular, 3/16.

Cricket Statistics for Irfan Pathan
Batting and Fielding Averages