Irfan Khan Pathan

Name: Irfan Khan Pathan

Date of Birth: October 27, 1984

Place of Birth: Baroda, Gujarat

Description:-
Pathan grew up with his brother Yusuf in Baroda, in an impoverished family. His father served as the muezzin. Although their parents wished them to become Islamic scholars, Pathan and his brother took an interest in cricket. In the beginning his deliveries did not reach the other end of the cricket pitch.Under the guidance of former Indian captain Datta Gaekwad, Pathan rose to get selected in the Under-14 Baroda cricket team, and when he was selected at Under-15 level to represent Baroda in a national tournament, he was finally presented with a full set of cricket equipment, having before been restricted to second-hand gear due to his family's poverty.

Pathan continued to improve his batting with a defiant 31 and 55 against Australia in October 2004 in Bangalore. This was his first half-century after the specialist batsmen had failed in the First Test. However, his career was put on hold after he suffered a side strain in the following Test in Chennai, causing him to miss the Tests in Nagpur and Mumbai.After being overlooked for the First Test as selectors opted for three spinners,he returned in the Second Test against South Africa in Kolkata, before making his name on the December tour to Bangladesh. Swinging the ball both ways, Pathan took 5/45 and 6/51 including several LBW decisions in the First Test in Dhaka to claim his first ten-wicket haul and his first Test man of the match award as India claimed a commanding innings victory.[21] He followed this with a match haul of 7/118 in the following match in Chittagong to take 18 wickets at 11.88 to be named as man of the series.

Pathan began to suffer loss of form during the tour of the West Indies in May 2006, when he managed only 24 runs at a batting average of 6 runs and averaging 6 wickets at 29.83 while bowling in the ODI arena. After a poor display in a first-class tour match, he was dropped from the Test team as Vikram Singh became the third pace bowler and captain Rahul Dravid scrapped the five bowler strategy. Pathan only played once in the Second Test, after Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was sidelined due to injury. Chappell stated that Pathan was fatigued and had been overworked but was confident that Pathan "would recover from his slump and rise to further heights, asserting that he was still young and learning."Former India paceman Javagal Srinath expressed concern about Pathan's dwindling pace, but expressed that swing was the first priority in backing Pathan's return to international cricket.These concerns were further magnified in late 2006, when Pathan was demoted from the position of an opening bowler in ODIs during the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, and was later dropped from some matches altogether; and afterwards limited to sporadic ODI appearances on the November ODI tour to South Africa