3 lesser known records held by Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan, the left-arm swing bowling all-rounder from Baroda, announced his retirement from all forms of Cricket on January 4, 2019, putting an end to a career that spanned over 16 years and included 29 Test matches, 120 ODIs, and 24 T20Is.
Having made his international debut way back in 2003, Pathan made a mark quickly and was touted to be the next Kapil Dev. Captain Sourav Ganguly and coach Greg Chappel invested their faith in a 19-year-old Pathan and earmarked him as one of the potential match-winners for the future.
While Pathan made headlines during the initial part of his career, injuries and lack of form during the second half of his career led to him being sidelined and he soon faded into the shadows, having played his last international match in 2012.
Apart from his skill with the ball, Pathan was an extremely handy batsman as well, scoring 1000+ runs in both Tests and ODIs. His only Test century came against Pakistan in 2007 in Bangalore.
While some of Pathan's standout performances include his title-winning performance in the 2007 World T20 and the first over hat-trick against Pakistan, the left-arm seamer is holder of a few records that have been forgotten over time.
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On that note, here are three lesser-known records Irfan Pathan holds from international cricket.
#1 First Indian bowler to receive the Man of the Match award in T20Is
Irfan Pathan's heroics in the final of the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007 are well documented. He picked up 3 crucial wickets in the middle overs and kept the Pakistan batting line-up from getting to the 158-run target.
His victims included skipper Shoaib Malik, Yasir Arafat and the dangerous Shahid Afridi, dismissing the latter for a golden duck. On the back of his 3/16 effort, Pathan was rightly named as the Man of the Match.
This was the first instance of an Indian bowler being named as the Man of the Match in T20Is. In seven T20Is prior to this encounter, India had won four and all of these games saw Indian batsmen walk away with the award.