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Irfan PathanStatistics
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 India left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan (5-61) took a hat-trick in the first over, the first bowler to do so in the Test cricket history in first over of the third and final Test against Pakistan on Sunday. Pathan had Salman Butt caught at first slip by Rahul Dravid with a sharp outswinger, trapped captain Younis Khan LBW with a sharp inswinger and bowled Mohammad Yousuf with another big inswinger to leave Pakistan reeling on nought for three. Pathan took wickets with his fourth, fifth and sixth balls to complete the 36th hat-trick in Test cricket history. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is the only other India bowler to take a Test hat-trick, against Australia at Kolkatta in 2000-01. The 21-year-old Pathan had his victims beaten by the swing as well as seam movement extracted from the pitch. The left-armer is the 33rd bowler to record this feat in Test cricket. It is the 36th occasion that a bowler had taken three wickets off successive balls in the longer version of the game. Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, Australians Hugh Trumble and Jimmy Matthews have taken two hat-tricks in Test cricket. Irfan Pathan's hometown -- Baroda -- erupted with joy when the local lad became only the second Indian to claim a Test hat-trick on Sunday. "Pathan has really done us proud and I wish him all the best and hope he takes more and more wickets and sets greater targets and achieves more," selection committee chairman and secretary of Baroda Cricket Association Kiran More said. Pathan's mother Shamimbanoo said that all family members, relatives and friends were very happy that he got this achievement on Pakistani soil and "as Indians we feel proud for it". She added: "Irfan has really made all Indians proud and that makes us happy." Shamimbanoo said that Irfan used to be in touch with them regularly and "we were very confident that he would get us on his own and caught us by surprise". Mehbubkhan, Irfan's father, said that the entire family were praying to Allah that their son achieved something great which would ramain in everyone's memory forever. His sister Shagufa said: "After his failure in getting wickets in Lahore and Faislabad tests on dead pitches, we all were sure about his sucess in Karachi Test." Pathan's local coach Mehndi Shaikh said that the paceman had bowled with a lot of heart and soul and "I am very happy and glad that he showed both maturity and fire during his spell".  |
| He has taken 5 wickets in an innings six times in Test cricket, and once in one-day internationals, against Zimbabwe in the 2005 Videocon Tri-Series. His spell in the final match against Pakistan in the 2004 tour was arguably his best performance in ODI cricket. His trademark weapon is an inswinger which darts into a right-hand batsman, and he also has the ability to reverse swing the old ball. In the ODI format, Pathan has been particularly impressive, frequently giving India early breakthroughs. He now consistently ranks in or near the top 10 of the LG ICC cricket ratings. He is developing into an all-rounder, as part of a reallocation of responsibilities under the new Indian cricket coach Greg Chappell. Chappell has identified potential in Pathan's batting. Pathan has recently been used as both an opener and a top order batsman in late 2005 in one-day cricket, making 83 runs at more than a run a ball against Sri Lanka in a Test match. He also proved his enhanced batting skills by scoring 82 and 93 against Sri Lanka, opening the batting in the December 2005 New Delhi Test, when regular opener Virender Sehwag was hospitalised with illness. He scores primarily in front of the wicket, his main strength being his ability to drive. He has shown his batting strength against Pakistan (India's traditional rival) by hitting 90 in the second Test in Faisalabad (21-25 January, 2006). Pathan recently took a hat trick in the first over of the Karachi Test against Pakistan becoming the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the first over of a Test match. It was also the highest in terms of total averages of the batsmen dismissed (130.18: Salman Butt 34.27, Younis Khan 46.04, Mohammad Yousuf 49.86). [1] This was also the first hat trick by a paceman from India and the first hat trick for any Indian bowler in an away match. Pathan was the inaugural winner of the ICC Emerging Player of the year award in 2004, and is being groomed as the spearhead of the Indian attack for years to come, as well as a potential captain. Following his strong performances in 2005, Pathan was promoted in December to an A-grade contract by the BCCI. He moved to the second spot in the ICC ODI Bowling rankings but a poor performance against West Indies saw him go down to 7th in the rankings. |
Irfan Pathan named Emerging Player of the Year at ICC Awards Indian pace bowler Irfan Pathan was tonight named Emerging Player of the Year in front of 1000 guests at the ICC Awards at London's Alexandra Palace. The 19-year-old claimed the award in a category featuring some of international cricket's most talented players. The ICC Awards, presented by Hyundai in association with FICA, recognise the game's most outstanding players of the past 12 months. Accepting his award, Pathan paid tribute to his family and friends: "My family has supported me a lot as well as my coaches, right throughout my career. Everyone has helped me and I'd like to thank them all." ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said: "On behalf of the ICC and the cricket community, we congratulate Irfan Pathan on winning the Emerging Player of the Year award. He is a highly gifted player and along with the other nominees in this category, all have very bright futures in cricket," said Mr Speed. With 100 votes, Pathan claimed the award ahead of Pakistan's Yasir Hameed (75 votes). Australia's Michael Clarke finished in third place with 45 votes, while another Pakistan youngster, Umar Gul, rounded out the top four on 21 votes. In the 12-month voting period (1 August 2003 to 31 July 2004), Pathan played five Test matches and 18 One-Day Internationals. He took 16 Tests wickets at an average of 38.00 during the voting period, and 36 ODI scalps at an average of 23.19, including best figures of 4-24 against Zimbabwe in the VB Series in Australia in February. Pathan's 36 ODI wickets was more than double the tally of any of his colleagues in the Emerging Player of the Year category, with Australia's Michael Clarke (16 wickets) the next highest wicket-taker in limited-over matches during the year. Nominees for the Emerging Player of the Year Award must have been under 26-years-of-age at the start of the voting period (1 August 2003), and have played no more than five Test matches and/or 10 One-Day Internationals before the start of the voting period. Voting for the Emerging Player of the Year was completed by the 50-member ICC Awards voting Academy, who cast a 3-2-1 vote (3 votes being the greater value) from the list of nominees, with the votes tallied to produce a winner. The voting Academy included the 10 ICC Full Member captains, the Emirates Elite Panel of eight ICC Umpires, seven members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Referees (the eighth member did not officiate in the voting period), and a combination of 25 former legends and respected members of the media. Pathan Brothers |