Irfan Pathan is back! And he's back in 'full swing'. After a long hiatus, Irfan, who also happens to be my favorite Indian all-rounder in a long time, has fought off almost everything a cricketer can find in his way. "In life, you have more bad days than good days. I just try to enjoy every moment," said Irfan on his comeback tour to Australia. It's hard to dislike somebody like Irfan Pathan. He's out there giving 100%, whether in form or not. He never lets his famous smile fade away even in misery. And his unending reservoir of energy certainly does quite a bit to fire up the others around him! For Indian cricket today, he is the Comeback Kid! And it's about time too.
But Beside The Point, Irfan's comeback tells a story about Indian pacemen. Irfan isn't the first to make a remarkable comeback of this sort after a long holiday from the Indian dressing room due to injury, form issues or other unknown/concealed reasons.
Rewind back to early 2006, when Zaheer Khan was dropped after continually dismal performances. In the 2003 World Cup final against Australia at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Zaheer, opening the bowling, bowled an unending string of wides in his first over, granting the bulldozing Aussies a flying start which they gleefully capitalized upon to end up with 359 mammoth runs for the loss of just 2 wickets. Zaheer failed to improve and, in 2005, the BCCI dropped him from the Grade-B contract to the Grade-C contract. Zaheer got flayed during the 2006 tour to Pakistan. Many proclaimed the end of his career. Zaheer struggled to find rhythm and control in his accuracy, variety in bowling and menace in his pace and skill. All in vain. Zaheer ended up in the wilderness for nearly a year, during which time he went over to England to spend his time playing cricket for Worcestershire.
That holiday did the trick! Zaheer came back into the team late in 2006 for the tour to South Africa due to injuries to mainstream pacemen. The Zaheer who flew into Johannesburg then was a completely different Zaheer to the one who was earlier flayed by batsmen in different parts of the world. He decided to pick on Graeme Smith and the poor South African skipper had trouble playing more than 4 deliveries from the rediscovered Zaheer Khan. The man swung it a mile! But the harder part was that you could never tell if he'd swing it into you or away. Zaheer bowled with extraordinary ease, getting wickets at will and making the ball dance in the air. All of a sudden, in a matter of a month or so, India had gotten back its premier fast bowler - smarter, sharper and slier.
Munaf told a similar story, finding himself in the dark woods after a string of terrible performances, before making an extraordinary return during the 2011 World Cup at home. Munaf went on to become one of India's many successes in the World Cup triumph - frustrating the opposite end with nagging accuracy.
Looking into Irfan's story, one finds on comparison with Zaheer's and Munaf's stories the wonders that a short holiday of sorts can do to a young Indian paceman who seems to have lost everything. Instead, on bringing him back a year or so later, you tend to rediscover an all new lethal weapon - more skillful and full of guile. The new Irfan Pathan seems to bowl with greater adaptability. He seems to sense the pitch and the conditions early and decide on what sort of a role to assume - wicket-taking or run-containing. He's regained some of that spectacular swing that he'd seemed to have lost after shocking Pakistan in Karachi with a Test hattrick. He's hungrier and fitter, smarter and sharper.
But next on the list - can we do the same to Shanthakumaran Sreesanth?
Rewind back to early 2006, when Zaheer Khan was dropped after continually dismal performances. In the 2003 World Cup final against Australia at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Zaheer, opening the bowling, bowled an unending string of wides in his first over, granting the bulldozing Aussies a flying start which they gleefully capitalized upon to end up with 359 mammoth runs for the loss of just 2 wickets. Zaheer failed to improve and, in 2005, the BCCI dropped him from the Grade-B contract to the Grade-C contract. Zaheer got flayed during the 2006 tour to Pakistan. Many proclaimed the end of his career. Zaheer struggled to find rhythm and control in his accuracy, variety in bowling and menace in his pace and skill. All in vain. Zaheer ended up in the wilderness for nearly a year, during which time he went over to England to spend his time playing cricket for Worcestershire.
That holiday did the trick! Zaheer came back into the team late in 2006 for the tour to South Africa due to injuries to mainstream pacemen. The Zaheer who flew into Johannesburg then was a completely different Zaheer to the one who was earlier flayed by batsmen in different parts of the world. He decided to pick on Graeme Smith and the poor South African skipper had trouble playing more than 4 deliveries from the rediscovered Zaheer Khan. The man swung it a mile! But the harder part was that you could never tell if he'd swing it into you or away. Zaheer bowled with extraordinary ease, getting wickets at will and making the ball dance in the air. All of a sudden, in a matter of a month or so, India had gotten back its premier fast bowler - smarter, sharper and slier.
Munaf told a similar story, finding himself in the dark woods after a string of terrible performances, before making an extraordinary return during the 2011 World Cup at home. Munaf went on to become one of India's many successes in the World Cup triumph - frustrating the opposite end with nagging accuracy.
Looking into Irfan's story, one finds on comparison with Zaheer's and Munaf's stories the wonders that a short holiday of sorts can do to a young Indian paceman who seems to have lost everything. Instead, on bringing him back a year or so later, you tend to rediscover an all new lethal weapon - more skillful and full of guile. The new Irfan Pathan seems to bowl with greater adaptability. He seems to sense the pitch and the conditions early and decide on what sort of a role to assume - wicket-taking or run-containing. He's regained some of that spectacular swing that he'd seemed to have lost after shocking Pakistan in Karachi with a Test hattrick. He's hungrier and fitter, smarter and sharper.
But next on the list - can we do the same to Shanthakumaran Sreesanth?
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