Irfan Pathan retires: When the southpaw made his bat do the talking to rescue India

Irfan Pathan announced his retirement from the gentleman's game on Saturday. He was appreciated by one and all which included the fans, members of the cricketing fraternity and his former team-mates. While the match-winning spell in the inaugural edition of the ICC World T20 in 2007 and  the hat-trick in the very first over of a Test match against Pakistan were his standout bowling performances, he had stood out with the bat as well on one occasion.

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When Pathan brothers had rescued India

This had happened on February 10, 2009, during India's only T20I against Sri Lanka which was played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Chasing a target of 172, the Men In Blue seemed to be down and out after they were reduced to 115/7in the 16th over. It looked like an uphill task for India from thereon as the asking rate was going up with hardly any wickets left.

However, the Pathan brothers Irfan and Yusuf had other ideas as they decided to take on the rampaging Sri Lankan bowlers. The duo saw the visitors home with a vital 59-run stand for the eighth wicket. Irfan remained unbeaten on a 16-ball 33 which included two boundaries and the same number of maximums at a strike rate of 206.25 while Yousuf was not out on a 10-ball 22 at a strike rate of 220 as India got home with three wickets and four balls to spare. 

Pathan was also impressive with the ball as he finished with figures of 1/34 in his four overs. In fact, he had picked up the key wicket of Sananth Jayasuriya. 

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The glorious on-field career of Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan has represented India in 29 Tests, 102 One Day Internationals and 24 T20Is from 2003 to 2012. In his cricketing career which lasted for almost a decade, Pathan was a part of many of India's famous triumphs which include the historic tour of Pakistan in 2003-04, ICC World T20 2007, the Australian tri-series in 2007-08, ICC Champions Trophy 2013, etc. He had played his last international match against South Africa in the ICC World T20 2012.  

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