When Irfan Pathan created history with his Test hat-trick
In January 2006, Indian cricket was going through one of its toughest phases. It was Rahul Dravid’s first full overseas tour as captain, and of all nations, Pakistan wasn’t the easiest of places to tour.
A lot had changed since India’s historic tour of Pakistan in 2004. Greg Chappell had been coach for half a year and the ride was turbulent. The Sourav Ganguly topic was now the elephant in the dressing room, and it was all the media could talk about.
The first two Tests ended in a draw, but Karachi’s greenish wicket was a result-oriented track.
Before the Karachi Test, the focus was on the dull wickets in the first two Tests, the green Karachi track, and the possibility of Sourav Ganguly’s return. There was also a lot of talk about Inzamam-ul-Haq’s availability, and the contrasting forms of Pakistan's middle-order duo of Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan.
Mohammad Yousuf had averaged over 50 in 2005 and would later enjoy a Bradmanesque run in 2006. His scores in the series read 173, 65 and 126. Meanwhile, Younis Khan had scored 199 at Lahore and followed up with 83 and 194 at Faisalabad.
January 29, 2006 – National Stadium, Karachi
Expectedly, India elected to bowl. They had a green surface and a chilly morning and the clouds to assist them. Irfan Pathan was years old and already the golden boy of Indian cricket. He was also making a mark as an all-rounder.
Rahul Dravid trusted Irfan Pathan with the first over. The bowler began by setting up Salman Butt right away. The left-hander defended the first ball awkwardly, almost ballooning it on the leg-side. The next two balls swung away from the left-hander, and Butt was happy to see them through. All three balls were bowled below 120 kmph.
The fourth ball was bowled at a similar pace. It was short of a length and on to the off-stump, forcing the batsman to play it. The ball swung late, took the edge and found Rahul Dravid at first slip.
Irfan Pathan then had an attacking field set for Younis Khan and wanted him to go for a shot. An in-form Khan received it fuller on stumps, slightly quicker, and the ball swung late onto his pad. It was a straightforward decision for Simon Taufel.
The Baroda left-armer was now on a hat-trick. No cricketer in Test cricket history had claimed a hat-trick in the first over. Thankfully, Irfan Pathan wasn’t aware of this record and was not under pressure.
Pathan had troubled Mohammad Yousuf with late in-swingers in the previous tours, and he knew that the Pakistan star would be expecting more of the same.
Many years later, during an interaction with the Times of India, Irfan Pathan would recall the moments before the historic ball.
“When I went to bowl the third delivery, so many things were going through my mind. I had been on a hat-trick before as well. I had taken a hat-trick in junior cricket in the Plate Championship in England when I played for the U-19 team. So I wanted to do that in international cricket as well. I had come close to taking a hat-trick twice but couldn’t do it," revealed Irfan Pathan.
“I left everything to the Almighty and decided that I’m just going to ball my best ball. I knew that this was Mohammad Yousuf, who had gotten out to me many times. I knew that he was also waiting for my in-swinger. But even if it was a good ball, even if he was waiting for the same delivery, it would hit his pad. I wanted to do that," added Irfan Pathan.
Irfan Pathan creates history
There were too many pieces of advice. Sachin Tendulkar said something and Yuvraj Singh added to it. But the voices Pathan heard the loudest were inside his own head. Running in to bowl, multiple thoughts went through his mind. He thought of the out-swinger midway, weighed the options and then re-focused himself on the in-swing.
At the release point, he knew that he had bowled a magical ball.
“It was genuinely like a banana. It curved like that. The ball left my hand exactly the way I wanted it, and it went outside the off stump and then was curving in. Yousuf knew as soon as I bowled the delivery that it was coming in. But it came in so much that, after pitching, he couldn’t cover it,” Irfan Pathan recalled.
The shattered stumps jolted the cricket world. History had been created by a 20-year-old with swing bowling of the highest level.
A batsman drawn to defend before the swing beat him to edge it to slips. A batsman hit on the pad before the bat could come down. Then, generating swing to castle one of the best batters in the world. Irfan Pathan had just lived a dream.
He became the second Indian to bag a Test hat-trick after Harbhajan Singh’s feat against Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001. Since Irfan Pathan, the only Indian to claim a Test hat-trick is Jasprit Bumrah.
What happened next?
From 39 for six, fans saw one of the most dramatic comebacks in Test cricket. Kamran Akmal’s 113 lifted Pakistan to 245 while Irfan Pathan bagged a five-for.
Irfan Pathan's hat-trick scalps from the first innings - Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf scored 53, 77 and 97 respectively in the second innings. Pakistan declared at 599 for seven before their bowlers led them to a massive 341-run victory.
Unfortunately, one of the greatest moments in Indian cricket came in a defeat.