Path-breaker Pathan

He has brought a new swing to Indian bowling. He is applauded for his consistent delivery and performance. Even cricket icons marvel at his bowling control and accuracy. M.S. Unnikrishnan writes about 19-year-old bowler Irfan Pathan, the new wonder in the cricket world.

THE son of a muezzin in the Juma Masjid in Mandvi, Gujarat, rises to cricket stardom. A dream script, isn’t it?

Irfan Pathan has been no day dreamer, though. He has written and worked to the script with sweat and style. The young bowler’s ascendance to stardom is proof that talent always finds its way to the top — given a chance. Despite his poor economic background, Pathan is now a sought-after and much-feared bowler. He has proven his mettle at the highest level with matchless talent and character. Bowling wizards of the past are enthralled by his swing and seam method.

Luck, indeed, plays a major role in getting the right break at the right time, and Pathan was lucky that he got the call-up in Australia when his idol Zaheer Khan suffered an injury. He seized the moment to carve out a niche for himself in the team. His consistent delivery made him a force to reckon with. Lauding Pathan’s performance in the India-Pakistan series, skipper Sourav Ganguly said, "The crucial aspect about him is he delivers."

Pathan truly deserves the accolades coming his way at a very young age. The ‘cricket god’ finally seems to have answered India’s long-standing prayer for seamers and swing bowlers of international class. Irfan Pathan, Laxmipathy Balaji, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra make a deadly combination, and India now faces a "problem of plenty" in the seam bowling department.

Pathan has brought a new dimension to Indian bowling, which had always struggled to get the opposition out twice in a match. ‘New India’ bowlers like Pathan and Balaji are now writing a new chapter in quick bowling.

Taming Australia and Pakistan on their own backturf was a booster-dose India badly needed to pep up their confidence. The Pakistan pitches provided the perfect setting for Pathan to produce his prodigious bowling skills. Pakistan was no familiar ground for him. It was in Pakistan that Pathan, as a ‘junior,’ cut his teeth, to proclaim the arrival of a swing bowler of unrivalled potential.

After he claimed 18 wickets in four matches to guide India to the Asia Cup Under-19 Cricket Championship in Pakistan last year, a Pakistan Cricket Board journal prophesied that "the day is not far when Irfan Pathan would don the Indian blazer and challenge the leading batsmen around the world with his lethal left-arm swing bowling."

Prophetic words, indeed, for Pathan quickly came of age to reinforce his place in the Indian team. It has often been observed that those who show great potential in age-group tournaments sink without a trace when thrown in the deep end of the swirling waters of international cricket. Pathan, however, proved to be a glorious exception, one of a kind, as he has consistently delivered on the big stage.

On his debut in Australia, when pitted against the ‘big boys,’ he was unfazed. With his magical late swing, he dismissed Adam Gilchrist and Steve Waugh within a few overs. In the Asia Cup, his haul of nine Bangladesh wickets "sent shivers down the ranks of the participating teams (including Sri Lanka and Pakistan)."

The secret of Pathan’s success is that he bowls with control and accuracy. Till a few years ago, India’s medium-pace was the butt of jokes in the cricket circuit.

Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath altered the scenario a lot, but a Test series victory abroad was still a distant dream. Till, of course, Pathan and Balaji sprang up on the scene. "If Australia was where I got my big break, Pakistan was a learning experience," Irfan said on his return from the Pakistan tour. "I stuck to the basics — line and length — which paid off," he explained. Irfan was lucky to get all the encouragement from skipper Ganguly, stand-in captain Rahul Dravid, and other key players like VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh. They prodded him to go for the kill, whenever he was given the ball to do the trick.

Success has not gone to Pathan’s head. "My focus will always be cricket. I try my best, and always give it my all," he says. He knows enough about his limitations to admit, "I have a long way to go." But what he has achieved already is something to be very proud of. He played a vital role in the gameplan for India’s ODI and Test series victories in Pakistan.

The Test series win, the first in Pakistan and India’s second win anywhere in the world, after beating Sri Lanka in 1993, was a turning point. India had beat Pakistan to wrest a Test series triumph after a gap of 24 years.

Pathan took 4 for 100 in the first Test to break the Pakistani resistance. Former Pakistan skippers Imran Khan and Wasim Akram, both masters of reverse swing, marvelled at Pathan’s "inswing, outswing and Yorkers."

Pathan has come a long way — literally and figuratively — from his family’s one-room quarter at the Juma Masjid in Baroda to the playfields in just one year. "Guddu", as he is lovingly called by his near and dear ones, shares the tiny living space with his father Mehboob Khan, mother Shamim Bhano and other siblings. A true mama’s boy, Pathan relishes his mother’s biryani more than anything else. Small wonder, that this youngster packs such a powerful punch.

A student of MESR School in Nagarwada, in recent months it has been all play and no studies for Pathan. He missed the Gujarat Secondary Education Board Examination because of the Pakistan tour. But he is determined to pursue his education. "I think education is very important. Playing for India is obviously a huge thing, but I would prefer completing my education alongside."

Born on October 27, 1984, in Baroda, Pathan has been in the limelight ever since he made his international debut against Australia in 2003.

Before he played his first international match, Pathan nursed two dreams — to open the bowling for India and meet his idol Wasim Akram. Now that he has realised both dreams, he wishes that he gets enough chances to bowl alongside Zaheer for India, as the pair has already earned the nick name "Baroda Bombers" for their fiery spells on the cricket field.

"He is a great help, and always gives me tips," Pathan says of Zaheer. The common refrain which echoed when the Indian team left for the long tour of Pakistan was that "if Zaheer does not get the Pakistanis, Irfan will." Irfan, however, got off on the wrong foot when he was clobbered severely by the Pakistan players in a side game before the one-dayers started. This hiding that he got perhaps prompted Pakistan coach Javed Miandad to make that supposedly famous comment that "Pathans are found in every galli of Pakistan."

Though Pathan was introduced only in the third ODI in place of an injured Ashish Nehra, he made an impact with his attack bowling, making the ball talk, as it were.

But his best was at Lahore during the fifth ODI when he had the batsmen in trouble on a flat batting strip. His spell of 3 for 32 helped India clinch the ODI series, and his father was quick to rebut Miandad’s nasty comment, with the observation that "Irfan belongs to the lane of Allah’s home because he stays in a mosque and offers prayers and service."

Pathan leads the World ODI bowlers’ pack with 157 points after his exploits in Pakistan, and if modesty does not desert him, the young man is bound to conquer many a peak before reaching the Everest of success. He has the potential, attitude and aptitude to succeed, and with a players’ captain like Ganguly at the helm, the sky is the limit for the Pathans and the Balajis.

"Whatever you do, do it well. Work hard and still if you are not getting where you want, work harder," Pathan sums up his credo. With this kind of mindset, Pathan is bound to go very far.

WHEN it was difficult to get even two square meals a day, cricket was farthest from the scheme of things in the Pathan household. A family of five, living in a one-room space in a masjid, couldn’t afford to have many wants.

As a muezzin in a masjid in Baroda, Mehboob Khan was paid Rs 1200 a month, with which he had to look after his wife Shamim Bhano, and three children — two boys and a girl. A small perfume shop outside the masjid supplemented the Pathans’ income a little. Still, they couldn’t think of an existence other than the mundane.

The boys were, however, crazy about cricket. A plastic bat and ball were enough for Irfan and his brother, who enjoyed playing cricket in the mosque backyard. But the mosque authorities were not amused. They told Mehboob Khan to ‘discipline’ his kids. He tried to reason with them but he couldn’t convince the maulavis, and had to tender an apology for the ‘wild ways’ of his sons.

Mehboob Khan, however, could not stifle the boys’ enthusiasm for cricket. He tried to convince his sons that "cricket is a rich man’s game," but in vain.

Shamim Bhano wanted her sons to become Islamic scholars. But the boys were obsessed with cricket. A sympathetic uncle, Ahmed Mia, approached Baroda Sports Club cricket coach Mehndi Sheikh for help. Since the club was very close to the masjid, Mehboob Khan decided to send the boys for cricket coaching. Torn cricket shoes and broken bats were bought from the second-hand Sunday market as the family could not afford new gear. Pathan modestly admitted, after he made it big, that "our wants were limited and our parents fulfilled all our small, small demands".

Pathan was a ‘born’ player, who really did not care much for the cricket gear.

He was a middle order batsman of the "killer" kind, and soon caught the attention of the cricket authorities of Baroda. Pathan received his first proper cricket kit when he was drafted into the under-14 team. And when he was selected for the under-15 squad, the other players in the team collected money to buy him a kit bag. But it was at the under-15 national camp that Pathan’s cricket profile was to change for ever, as the coach in charge noticed the boy’s ability to bowl fast, and swing the ball too.

The rest, as they say, is history. Pathan scored bowling hat-tricks in the Under-15 Asia Cup and the Under-19 World Cup, in New Zealand. His nine-wicket haul against Bangladesh in the Under-19 Asia Cup at Lahore last year, got him his third hat-trick. He first smashed 34 off 44 balls, which included four boundaries and a huge six, and then captured nine wickets for 16 runs.

But his biggest break came when he was selected for the India A team for the tour of England last year. He was also picked for the West Zone Duleep and Deodhar Trophy tournaments. He made his Ranji Trophy debut against Bengal in March 2001, and captured 4 wickets for 59 runs to make quite an impression.

He was selected for the MRF Pace Foundation, and he honed up his bowling skills under the guidance of legendary Australian paceman Dennis Lillee. Pathan’s display for India A in the Challenger Trophy impressed national selector Kirti Azad, who saw potential in the pace bowler.

Irfan Pathan has not disappointed his admirers. He is still modest about his achievements. His wants are limited too. His hobby continues to be "gossiping with friends" on the steps of the Baroda Juma Masjid. And he has not yet mustered the courage to visit the posh areas of the city, though he has now reached a position where anything material is within his reach. Money has begun to roll in, and offers for endorsements and sponsorships too are pouring in.

It’s just a matter of time before the rich and the famous of Baroda would be eating out of Irfan Pathan’s hands. But before that, he wants to sit for his Higher Secondary Board Exams, and then go for further studies.

— MSU