Yusuf played for Baroda in domestic cricket throughout his career and kicked-off his Indian Premier League journey with Rajasthan Royals before switching to Kolkata Knight Riders. He made appearances in the lucrative Tleague and his ball century in the against Mumbai Indians in still stands as the second-fastest in the history of the tournament.
The explosive all-rounder last featured in IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad back in but was not retained by the franchise for the previous edition played in UAE. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. You can find out more by clicking this link. The next day he took me out to dinner. Maybe he felt bad.
T he Pathan brothers spoke with me again in the grounds of Motibaug Cricket Club, where the Baroda Ranji team convenes for practice on weekdays at 3pm. The golf course and the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum are in the vicinity.
All this land was once part of the Laxmi Vilas Palace complex, a acre oasis plumb in the centre of this urban dustscape.
The palace itself is a stunning Indo-Saracenic structure, laid out like an English country manor, completed in by the Gaekwad at the time. It is a sweltering afternoon. I find cover by a water cooler, where chairs have been placed beneath a thick-trunked young banyan. Twelve bottle-green nets face each other, though only six are being used in earnest. The net directly behind me has a young man standing on a stool feeding a bowling machine as a friend practises straight drives. Once in a while a ball will skirt along the grass and rebound off the banyan with a resounding knock, suddenly whizzing past my shins or nose.
I try not to flinch. Maybe you can ask him" Irfan Pathan. After his turn at bat, Yusuf collapses into the chair next to me. He removes his pads and other padding and tosses each into a giant strolley cricket bag. Rather tentatively - he's built like a boulder - I ask him something that I have been wondering about.
What was it like in the early years, trying to establish himself as a cricketer while his younger brother had already exploded into cricket-world stardom? And then for the national team. But our coach, Mehndi Sheikh, encouraged both of us. I didn't make big goals. I just played every match I could. Kept working without thinking of results. Lots of club games. Sometimes my club would send me for corporate matches. Relatives would come to the house, asking, 'Irfan kaisa hain? Irfan has finished his own net session now and finds himself a chair, nodding at the memory.
He predicted I would play in the World Cup. People laughed. No one believed him. But that year I had a very good season in Ranji and the Deodhar trophy. After that I began to believe. Sandhu has good memories of working with Yusuf. It reminded me of Sandeep Patil. Though Yusuf had this reputation of big hitting, he wasn't taken seriously as a batsman. He would play a silly shot and get out. I taught him shot selection. Of recognising the difference between a good and bad ball and treating them differently.
He was a good learner, always wanting to improve. We did video analysis of his bowling and figured out his grip was wrong. I shortened his run-up, insisted he bowl slower. Once his action became more balanced, he could actually turn the ball. I wanted to motivate them both at the same time. But it was true. Yusuf had a better range of shots. Irfan was more organised in the head. There was a healthy competitiveness between the brothers. They were always after each other, even in the nets.
I wanted to push them. The years, cars and laurels haven't dulled the rivalry. He hit two fours off me. We both still remember. It's good for us. Since then he's been singing around the house, 'I beat him, I beat him. Once I tell them, the story goes on for days. The brothers are pulled away, Yusuf to bowl, Irfan to knock, so I stroll to the other side of the field, standing in the lengthening shadow of a handsome blue-domed dargah, to get a lateral view of the net sessions. A slender, short left-armer, hair thinning at the crown, is working hard despite the heat, sending down sharp medium-pacers that have the batsmen hopping.
Irfan nicks one. Munaf Patel signals approval with applause and a burst of encouraging invective. Every time I come across a net session in a random corner of Delhi or Mumbai, I find myself watching the quick bowlers. A function, no doubt, of the deep lack that every Indian cricket fan feels, the national deprivation that fuels such futilities as the Pace Bowling Talent Hunt - as if a fast bowler is an Easter egg - to find, for once, an express bowler who can land it where he wants four or five times out of six.
It was this lack to which Irfan spoke. He was never express but for a brief, glorious instant it looked like India had a quick bowler who was in control of line and length, who could make it move when he wanted, who could cut through the top order and wipe up the tail. Our own mini-Akram, bouncing locks and all. So what happened? How did it go wrong? Some said success affected me. They don't understand what it's like. Between the Pathan brothers, Irfan surely managed to make a bigger name for himself and gain more glory.
Sports Snippets. Author: IWMBuzz. Wait for Comment Box Appear while. Read Latest News. This propelled Irfan to the India A team, eventually leading to his debut with the senior team in the Adelaide Test in which India won.
It was their first Test win in Australia after 23 years. Irfan and Yusuf became only the second pair of brothers to play for India. Yusuf was part of the squad when India lifted the World Cup at home. Share Via.
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