Irfan Pathan retires: Rohit Sharma recalls all-rounder's unique feat, wishes him luck

Team India's opener Rohit Sharma wished former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan luck for his future as the latter announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket on Saturday. Irfan Pathan was one of Team India's lethal pacers during the early and mid-2000s and has dismissed the best batsmen in the business. He has also played an instrumental role in winning a lot of matches for the country with his left-arm swing. However, one of his best bowling performances came against arch-rivals Pakistan in a deciding Test match in 2006.

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Rohit Sharma bids farewell to Irfan Pathan

Hitman Rohit Sharma wished Irfan Pathan a happy retirement and hailed the all-rounder's passionate and aggressive attitude while he was playing. Rohit Sharma took to recall a unique feat achieved by Irfan Pathan in the longer format of the game and pointed out that no one has done so before. Taking to Twitter, Rohit sharma wished Irfan Pathan luck for his second innings. Irfan Pathan warmly responded to Rohit Sharma's wishes and said that he remembered the run-machine from a tournament at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai and how he was amazed by the time young Rohit Sharma had while he was playing seamers. Pathan concluded his tweet by saying that it was a pleasure to share the dressing room with Rohit Sharma. 

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Irfan Pathan's cricketing career

Irfan Pathan has represented India in 29 Tests, 102 One Day Internationals and 24 T20Is from 2003 to 2012. In his cricketing career which lasted for almost a decade, Pathan was a part of many of India's famous triumphs which include the historic tour of Pakistan in 2003-04, ICC World T20 2007, the Australian tri-series in 2007-08, ICC Champions Trophy 2013, etc. He had played his last international match against South Africa in the ICC World T20 2012. Even though the veteran pacer was selected in the 2013 Champions Trophy squad, he did not feature in a single game as the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side went on to win the tournament without tasting a defeat. This was also the last time that Pathan would feature in the Indian squad. 

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The Baroda cricketer has represented six teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He had played for Kings XI Punjab from 2008 to 2010 after which he was roped in by the now-defunct Delhi Daredevils where he had played from 2011-2013. In 2014 and 2015, he represented Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings and then went on to represent the now-defunct franchises Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions in 2016 and 2017 respectively. 

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