The Parents of Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan; what a fortunate lot they ought to be, to give birth to two such sensational talents! Vinod Kambli had once famously quoted about his late arrival on the international scene, "Sachin took the elevator and I took the staircase!". He was perhaps over the moon after an epoch making second successive double hundred and had his reasons to feel so!
We now are dealing with a different situation. The younger brother here was a handsome little fellow with super talent. His batting, bowling and fielding were such supreme pleasure, that the Selectors practically airlifted him from the Junior Cricket series in Pakistan and straight into the cauldron of Cricket at the 'Highest' level 'Down Under'!
And how did he do? He was nothing short of a Sensation. I still remember the earth shaking reverse swinging yorker that felled Adam Gilchrist and the excited shout of Ravi Shastri! He was winning matches and playing like a dream. He batted at No. 3 and even opened and did well in whatever he did. That was a period when Srinath had retired, Nehra and Zaheer were injured and we had only Ajit Agarkar for a front-line bowler.
Nobody even knew Irfan Pathan had an elder brother. His name was mentioned along with the parents when Irfan was setting the ovals ablaze. And after those occasional glimpses of the elder sibling; people used to say, "What an ugly looking brother for such a handsome and talented boy!"
Then came the Australian Missionary with the mission to demolish Indian Cricket. Greg Chappell almost destroyed the careers of Saurav Ganguly, Virendar Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. All these guys came back strongly after Greg left. But one guy whom Chappell evidently promoted had actually started to falter, albeit slowly and definitely!
Irfan Pathan in the process of becoming a modern day Kapil Dev, lost his swing and zing first. He was going up in the batting order and going down in the bowling order. He must be the first player to be sent back mid-way through the tour of South Africa after scoring a century in a side match! And what was the reason? He was not even able to pitch the ball in line with the stumps.
Thus he lost the pace and his place in the team. It was such an unfortunate fall from grace! Today even his best efforts are being overlooked in favor of some extremely ordinary performers like Vinay Kumar and Ashish Nehra.
All along, there was this elder brother, the 'Ugly Duckling' who was inspired by the success of the little brother 'Swan' and wanted to do well for himself. He was playing in the local 'Gully Cricket' and was smashing the window-panes all over the mohalla. Some of his friends asked him to take up Cricket more seriously and lo and behold; here was a 'Pinch Hitter'!
People were skeptical about his methods. Whenever he did well, it had to be 'fluke'. And when he failed, it was time for 'I told you so'! But this giant of a man went on undeterred in his mission. Today, he is the Vice-Captain of the Rajastan Royals team; an understudy to the Wise Captain Shane Warne!
He is in the news for the right reasons and for the wrong reasons. While the sledge-hammer Symonds declared, "This is Cricket for Men, not for school boys"; Captain Shane has Warned people, "Sledging is part of Cricket for Symonds. But he picked the Wrong man".
While the out of favor Irfan must be feeling really jilted by 'Lady Fortune'; Yusuf has reached a commanding position. The fortunes of his team and those of the opponents depend upon which side of his anatomy are they getting to see. If those in the pavilion keep looking at his back, it is doom time for the opponents. If the opponents get to see his posterior early on, RR sure will be in trouble.
I have discussed why Indian selectors should take care of Yusuf in an Earlier post!
I sincerely hope the 'Swan' will soon find the ability to swim against the tide and join the Duckling to bring more laurels to Team India. The talent of both these Pathans is unquestionable. It is just a matter of the Board, the Selectors and the Captain showing some confidence in these guys and giving the backing they really deserve!
We have two world-beaters with us, but will we ever use them well enough? If the two Pathans get even a fourth of the support accorded to the two Sharmas [Ishant and Nohit Rohit], India will be a huge force in the shorter formats of Cricket!
To be honest, I like Irfan but probably would struggle him to accommodate in my ODI team. Even in T20, his biggest competition is his brother, apart from Ravindra Jadeja. I think his is a case of mistaken identity. He was a bowler who can bat a bit before Chappell tinkered with his mindset. Irfan lost his way in the cloud of advice flowing from every Tom-Dick-Harry he approached in his desperation. It's a sad case. I think he has left behind his Test and ODI career and his brand of cricket can only be of use in T20 only.
ReplyDeleteAs of now you are right. Irfan is a better choice in T-20 than Ashish Nehra and Vinay or even PK. Especially due to his batting. If we play 3 pacers, I will go with Irfan, PK and Khan as of now.
ReplyDeleteIn ODI Cricket, I will not choose him at present. But he needs some support to regroup. The talent is there. The focus and direction are needed. But who will give it is a question!
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