Former all-rounder Irfan Pathan, on Saturday (04-01-2020), announced his retirement from professional cricket, ending an injury-ridden career that prevented him from accomplishing his true potential.
The 35- year old’s retirement was likely to happen, considering that he last played a game in February 2019 during the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy for Jammu and Kashmir. He played his entire domestic cricket for Baroda before turning up for Jammu and Kashmir as a player and a coach-cum-mentor in 2018.
The left-arm pacer played 29 Tests(1150 runs and 100 wickets), 120 ODIs(1544 runs and 173 wickets) and 24 T20 Internationals (172 runs and 28 wickets) for India, picking a total of 301 international wickets. Some of his best moments as a bowler came against Pakistan; a first-over Test hat-trick in 2006 and a man of the match performance in the 2007 World T20 final, among many others.
He is one of the finest all-rounders of India. One of his best all-round performances came against Australia in Perth, where he won the Man of the Match in India’s historic victory during the 2007-2008 tour.
Injuries and lack of form troubled him which caused him to lose the ability to swing the ball. He has not played in an international fixture since 2012.
Irfan Pathan said, “I am announcing retirement from all forms of cricket. I have been fortunate to share the dressing room with greats of the game like Ganguly, Dravid, and Laxman. I am calling time on my career, I would like to thank my family for providing much-needed support. I would like to thank my fans. They have always hoped for my comeback. Their support has kept me going.”
He expressed that he was ever ready to contribute to Indian cricket, but it is better if someone else who has the potential from domestic cricket takes his place.
