Irfan Pathan, the Indian all-rounder who recently announced his retirement from international cricket after playing nearly nine years for India, shared a heartwarming message from one of his fans on the social media.
Pathan made his debut at a young age of 19 when his arrival to the cricket scene was marked by an inswinging yorker that rattled Adam Gilchrist’s stumps in the drawn Test series against Australia in 2003. The youngster made progress and was viewed as a fine sem bowling all-rounder after the great Kapil Dev.
However, Pathan could never cement his place in the Indian setup and being in and out of the side on a regular basis didn’t help his cause either. He did display some brilliant individual performances on days that revealed his ability as an all-rounder.
His hat-trick against Pakistan in the historic Test series in Karachi in 2006, forced the world to take notice of this swing bowler.
Pathan, who played 173 matches for India across formats, picking 301 wickets along with 2821 runs, could never big at the international level. His career was marred by injuries and prevented him to sustain for longer periods at the highest level.
However, despite his struggles on the filed, Pathan was a fan favorite. He was a popular figure among the females, and even after his retirement from cricket, his fans made sure that their love for the cricketer never diluted irrespective of his on-field performances.
Recently, one of Pathan’s fans made a touching gesture by writing a heartwarming message for his idol. Pathan shared the screenshot of the message via his official Instagram handle.
The 35-year old added an Instagram story with the entire message. The all-rounder was indeed overwhelmed upon the love as he wrote, “Msgs like these”, followed by a couple of emojis to acknowledge the kindness of the fan.
Here’s the Instagram story added by Irfan Pathan:
The fans reminded Irfan of his fast bowling exploits while playing for India and how he idolized him in his years growing up. In response, the southpaw even wished the fan all the luck and success ahead in his life.
