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This is a real story of Irfan Phatan.
The day Irfan Pathan nearly died
One reason why India's latest pace sensation Irfan Khan Pathan is dear to his parents is because as an infant he survived a fall in a water tank due to which he had come close to death.
A jamaat, or a group of preachers, had come to Baroda in mid-1980s and was staying at the Mandvi mosque where Irfan's father Mehboob Khan is a muezzin, a person who gives the call to the faithful for prayers.
One afternoon when Mehboob, who sells perfume next to the mosque, was busy with the guests who were getting ready for the prayers the scary incident happened.
"When one of them went to the hauz for wazu, he saw an unconscious child floating on the water," Mehboob, who was here to watch the second India-Pakistan Test, told IANS.
"He called me and when I saw the child, I said it was Irfan, who must be just about two or two and a half years old then," he recalled. "I immediately took him to Sayaji Government Hospital in a rickshaw."
While on the way Mehboob made Irfan lie face down on his thighs so that the water he had drunk come out. But Irfan remained unconscious until a doctor attended him. He was eventually revived at the hospital.
"And the first word he uttered after regaining consciousness was 'my toy'. You can say he got a second life," said the friendly Mehboob.
"He was playing with his doll when it had accidentally fallen in the hauz within the compound of the mosque and since it was afternoon everyone was inside the house and so nobody noticed him," he said.
The child that fell in water playing with a doll 17 years ago is today making the five-ounce leather ball dance to his tune as he chases scalps of some of the world's best batsmen.
With as many as three hat-tricks in junior competitions under his belt, at 19, Irfan is potentially India's best bet in pace bowling by many accounts, including those of experts and legends like Imran Khan, Ian Chappell and Wasim Akram.
Following his nine-wicket haul against Bangladesh in an under-19 Asian Cup match at the Gaddafi Stadium here in November - he captured 18 wickets in four games in that tournament to bowl India to the title - his selection for the Australian tour was a virtual formality.
Irfan made his Test debut in the second Test at Adelaide - after Zaheer Khan pulled out with a groin injury - and played his maiden one-day international later in the VB Triangular Series and has since not looked back.
On the current tour, Irfan lunched the bowling attack in the three one-dayers - while Zaheer struggled with a leg muscle strain - and topped the bowling averages on either side with 17.87 as he captured eight wickets in just three matches. His best figures of 3/32 helped India clinch the five-match series 3-2.
Irfan then broke the back of Pakistan batting with his maiden five-wicket haul in the first innings of the first Test at Multan, which helped India win by an innings and 52 runs to register their first-ever victory in Pakistan. Quite aptly, Irfan took the last wicket to script history.
Irfan, who fine-tuned his art under Aussie great Dennis Lillee at Chennai's MRF Pace Foundation, is an aggressive bowler, generates unusual bounce and more significantly moves the ball both ways to trouble batsmen.
"He will have no rest even after this series as he has to again go to Chennai for another stint at the pace foundation," said a proud Mehboob.
The day Irfan Pathan nearly died
One reason why India's latest pace sensation Irfan Khan Pathan is dear to his parents is because as an infant he survived a fall in a water tank due to which he had come close to death.
A jamaat, or a group of preachers, had come to Baroda in mid-1980s and was staying at the Mandvi mosque where Irfan's father Mehboob Khan is a muezzin, a person who gives the call to the faithful for prayers.
One afternoon when Mehboob, who sells perfume next to the mosque, was busy with the guests who were getting ready for the prayers the scary incident happened.
"When one of them went to the hauz for wazu, he saw an unconscious child floating on the water," Mehboob, who was here to watch the second India-Pakistan Test, told IANS.
"He called me and when I saw the child, I said it was Irfan, who must be just about two or two and a half years old then," he recalled. "I immediately took him to Sayaji Government Hospital in a rickshaw."
While on the way Mehboob made Irfan lie face down on his thighs so that the water he had drunk come out. But Irfan remained unconscious until a doctor attended him. He was eventually revived at the hospital.
"And the first word he uttered after regaining consciousness was 'my toy'. You can say he got a second life," said the friendly Mehboob.
"He was playing with his doll when it had accidentally fallen in the hauz within the compound of the mosque and since it was afternoon everyone was inside the house and so nobody noticed him," he said.
The child that fell in water playing with a doll 17 years ago is today making the five-ounce leather ball dance to his tune as he chases scalps of some of the world's best batsmen.
With as many as three hat-tricks in junior competitions under his belt, at 19, Irfan is potentially India's best bet in pace bowling by many accounts, including those of experts and legends like Imran Khan, Ian Chappell and Wasim Akram.
Following his nine-wicket haul against Bangladesh in an under-19 Asian Cup match at the Gaddafi Stadium here in November - he captured 18 wickets in four games in that tournament to bowl India to the title - his selection for the Australian tour was a virtual formality.
Irfan made his Test debut in the second Test at Adelaide - after Zaheer Khan pulled out with a groin injury - and played his maiden one-day international later in the VB Triangular Series and has since not looked back.
On the current tour, Irfan lunched the bowling attack in the three one-dayers - while Zaheer struggled with a leg muscle strain - and topped the bowling averages on either side with 17.87 as he captured eight wickets in just three matches. His best figures of 3/32 helped India clinch the five-match series 3-2.
Irfan then broke the back of Pakistan batting with his maiden five-wicket haul in the first innings of the first Test at Multan, which helped India win by an innings and 52 runs to register their first-ever victory in Pakistan. Quite aptly, Irfan took the last wicket to script history.
Irfan, who fine-tuned his art under Aussie great Dennis Lillee at Chennai's MRF Pace Foundation, is an aggressive bowler, generates unusual bounce and more significantly moves the ball both ways to trouble batsmen.
"He will have no rest even after this series as he has to again go to Chennai for another stint at the pace foundation," said a proud Mehboob.
