Minimally distracted by mental demons, a man who swings his own brand of willow, Yusuf Khan Pathan is one of the smoothest strokers of a sixer one would ever wish to never bowl to. His bat swing is one of languid violence – if he were not a cricketer, he would have been a shoo-in for the job of fanning an executioner. He has deceptive might and would give brute forcers a key lesson in making healthy contact with the ball. Arguably a better all-rounder than his younger sibling, Irfan, Yusuf can not only hit a longer ball, but on current form, is a more reliable bowling option as well. With his flat drifters, he does not turn the ball a mile, but manages to squeeze the odd delivery through amid a series of dot balls.
Yusuf Pathan began his demolition derby in 1999-2000 when he played for the Baroda Under-16 team in the Vijay Merchant Trophy. A decent bits-and-pieces player from the outset, he walked into the Under-19 sides of Baroda and later, West Zone. Although he made his First-class debut in 2001-02, he began to truly shine during the 2004-05 Ranji Trophy season where he turned out among West Zone’s highest run-scorers and wicket-takers.
Having impressed selectors with his performances in 2007 Inter-state T20 competition, he was included in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup in South Africa. His International debut did not afford him any immediate extravagant glory. Filling in for the injured Virender Sehwag, he played as an opener in the final against Pakistan at Johannesburg. He heralded his arrival with a lofted skier that cleared the ropes straight down the ground. In terms of tangible contribution, his 15 runs of 8 balls, a solitary over that went for five runs, and one catch did not make for ostentatious news. But in the context of the T20 Final, his start provided India the impetus and his tidy over put the brakes on a rampaging Pakistani run-rate.
His stunning antics for Rajasthan Royals in the 2008 Indian Premier League’s inaugural season made it prudish for the selectors to ignore him any longer and he was drafted into the One Day International side for the Kitply Cup. His first ODI, against Pakistan, was of poor showing, as he struggled to time the ball all through a strained innings. Although played in every game of that series and the next, his performances were lukewarm, and he was dropped from the side. But a Yusuf Pathan relegated to the domestic circuit is a shark in a fish pond, and he soon resumed duty in the Indian side for the England home ODI series a few months later. Here he would start to find himself, carving a niche as a belligerent match-winner, scoring a whirlwind fifty at Indore on his 26th birthday.
In a short span, he became ensconced in the Indian ODI line-up for a while, losing his all-rounder spot only in late 2009 to Ravindra Jadeja. Viewed as a flexible all-rounder who can bat anywhere in the order as per the team’s need to accelerate the run rate, Pathan remains an integral part of MS Dhoni’s T20 team. His bowling too fits in well as he bowls his quota of flat off-breaks at a fair clip, conceding few as the batting side are left to wonder where his overs went. However, he is still viewed as a bit too mercurial, and this has kept him on the sidelines of the ODI team and out of the Test side till now.
In the Deodhar Trophy final, he almost got North Zone over the line blasting an impeccable 39-ball 80. This was the latest in the sequence of high-calibre hitting he had displayed during the 2010 domestic season. Earlier in the season, playing the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone, he followed a first innings century (108) with an unbeaten double ton (210 off 190 balls) in the second innings to lead West Zone to a record-setting highest successful run chase in the history of first class cricket.
Incredible when he enters his zone, he has frequently proven a match-winner for the Rajasthan Royals. At times, he has single-handedly demolished the opposition’s chances with his uncanny hitting. The Royals have faced situations where he has been the only batsman a force to reckon with in the line-up. In IPL 3, he has landed the covetable brand of Most Valued Player, according to the newspaper Rediff. For the price he was bought (USD 475,000), his returns have been disproportionately advantageous. The 37 ball century he wove against the Mumbai Indians became the first century of tournament, and included a record 11 consecutive hits to the boundary, five of which cleared it on the full.
A batsman who seems to be on a campaign to have the authorities see the futility of boundary ropes, Yusuf Pathan appears to play his cricket in zero gravity. Boundary ropes are redundancies for him, and in the manner of Arjuna’s eye, the only target worth his attention seems the top of the stadium roof. He seldom miscues a shot he has decided to loft on the full. His mind does not allow him to ever settle for a grounded shot if the ball is in the zone. His principle seems to be that a ball lofted is a sixer, while a ball played along the ground can only ever be a four at best.
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