Irfan Pathan retires | Throwback to his hat-trick against arch-rivals Pakistan in 2006

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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Irfan Pathan's hat-trick against Pakistan

This had happened during the series-deciding third and final Test match which was played at the National Stadium in Karachi which was played between January 29 to February 1, 2006. The previous two Tests had ended in a stalemate. Indian skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to bowl first. Pathan, who was known to provide vital breakthroughs with the new ball in hand provided a breakthrough early on.

After keeping the left-hander Salman Butt on his toes in the first three deliveries, he got the better of him when he made the southpaw play a false stroke as he got an outside edge and Dravid made no mistake at the slips. On the following delivery, he trapped Younis Khan plumb in front of the wicket with a fuller delivery that swung back in. On the very next delivery, he castled Mohammad Yousuf with another dream delivery to complete his hat-trick as Pakistan were reduced to 0/3 in the very first over.

By the virtue of this feat, Irfan Pathan only the second Indian in the history of the game to register a hat-trick. Meanwhile, he is the first and to date only player to register a hat-trick in the first over of a Test match.

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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. 

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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