Irfan Pathan opened the batting and bowling for India. He is only the third cricketer to do this feat in international cricket.
Irfan Pathan, who announced his retirement from cricket on Saturday, leaves behind a few unique records and a few unique landmarks that no other cricketer ever reached. Some of the records he racked up in his international cricket career might even remain untouched for many years.
# Irfan Pathan is the only player with 9 wickets in a youth ODI. He took figures of 9/16 vs Bangladesh U-19 in a Youth ODI 2003. No other bowler before or after him has taken 9 wickets in an international 50-over match before or after him.
# Irfan Pathan opened both the bowling and the batting for India in the same match. He opened for India in 2 ODIs, registering scores of 0 and 5. He is one of three cricketers to have done this unique feat across international formats. Only Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez and Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan have opened both the batting and bowling in the same match in international cricket.
# Irfan Pathan is the only bowler to take a hat trick in the first over of a Test match. He did this in the Karachi Test vs Pakistan in 2006.
Wasn’t he a fantastic bowler… Comparison’s with the great Akram were no joke. Unfortunately for him it was a case of in the right place at the wrong time. The most controversial coach of that time finished his career.
So many winning spells. Happy retirement #irfanpathan pic.twitter.com/AvwwBMO3vW— Swapnil Deshpande (@swapsd) January 4, 2020
# Irfan Pathan was the first Indian with a T20 4-wicket haul. He had figures of 4/27 for Middlesex in a T20 match in 2005.
1️⃣7️⃣3️⃣ international appearances
2️⃣8️⃣2️⃣1️⃣ runs
3️⃣0️⃣1️⃣ wickets@T20WorldCup winner 🏆Irfan Pathan has announced his retirement from professional cricket 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/2bLC98eRif
— ICC (@ICC) January 4, 2020
# Irfan Pathan is the only Asian player to win a Man of the Match award in a Test at the WACA. He did this with his all-round performance in 2008.
# He was the Man of the Match in the first ever World T20 final in 2007, when his 3 wickets in the final demolished Pakistan.
# He is the fastest Indian to 100 ODI wickets.
Also Read | Greg Chappell didn’t ruin my career: Irfan Pathan
# Pathan also took three hat-tricks for India across all international cricket. Till Kuldeep Yadav replicated his feat in 2019, he had been the only Indian with international hat-tricks in both Tests and ODIs.
Irfan Pathan’s hat-tricks for India:
Under-15: vs Thailand in ACC Trophy, 2000
Under-19: vs Bangladesh in Youth Asia Cup, 2003
Test Cricket: vs Pakistan in Karachi, 2006
