http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Irfan-Pathan-c1601 and Pakistani batsmen - Head-to-Head
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s fast bowler, Irfan Pathan has always been right on the target with his bowling piece for his country.
Pathan started his Test career against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 at Adelaide in Oval in 2003, picking just 1 wicket in his debut match; however, his inclusion in the team was proven as an auspicious factor for the Men in Blue, as they beat Australia
by 4 wickets.
Though, he was unimpressive in terms of stats during his first match, but impressed everyone with his smart bowling.
On the bases of his talent, the cricket pundits started predicating that India has got a great future prospect.
Whereas, the Baroda-born bowler played his first One Day International match against the Aussies side at Melbourne Cricket Ground on January, 9, 2004.
Since his debut, the left-arm pacer has always been an impressive asset for the national side, helping India to seal terrific victories in every format of the game.
Despite his outstanding contributions for the Indian team from start of his career, he managed to earn real fame after performing brilliantly against the arch rivals, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755.
The right-arm pacer has always been a difficult bowler for the Pakistani batsmen, as opponent’s batting line up failed to adjust against him.
After Australia’s tour in 2003/04, Indian side visited Pakistan to play 3 Tests, and 5 ODIs in the start of 2004 under the captaincy of the legendary batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Dravid-c2229.
The touring side performed outstandingly during the tour courtesy to the new inclusion, Pathan.
As the one can say that the potential pacer was the real difference between the two teams during above mentioned series.
He was fabulous during the Test series, taking 12 wickets in 3 matches; and upset the backbone of the Pakistani batting line up, as the great batsmen, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Yousuf-c77465 failed to pick the line and length of Pathan,
which eventually helped India to win the series by 2-1 comfortably.
He continued with the same momentum in the ODI series of the same tour, collecting 8 wickets in 3 matches with a reasonable economy rate of 4.76.
However, Pathan was not impressive in the next series, when Pakistan toured India to play to play 3 Tests, and 6 ODI in 2005/04.
The Indian pacer picked just 6 wickets during the test series, whereas, he managed to find place in the side only in 1 match in the ODI series following his bad patch in terms of performance.
As it has always been accepted in cricket that form is temporary and class is permanent, the versatile cricketer showed terrific piece of bowling in the last encounter of 3-match Test series in 2006 at Karachi, grabbing the wickets
of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Younis-Khan-c98325, and Yousuf to complete his hat trick, despite averaged bowling recital in the same series, collecting 8 wickets in 3 fixtures.
The Baroda-born fast bowler played only 1 Test match during the Indo-Pak Test series in 2008, taking just 1 wicket with an economy rate of 2.50.
The 27-year-old was the probably first fast bowler of the Indian cricket history who helped the country to improve the scope of fast bowling, as he inspired a lot of youngsters.
At the moment, he is not part of the Indian squad, as trying to make a comeback after healing from an injury.
Considering his exceptional performance in the recent past, it is generally perceived that the speedster can make a comeback in the national side very soon.
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