Birthday special: Yusuf Pathan – A power-hitter ahead of his time

Yusuf Pathan, born on 17th November 1982 in Vadodara, was a rare Indian cricketer who smashed the ball hard regardless of the format and the match situation. Yusuf’s striking ability and intent are still a rare combination to have in any professional cricketer which is why he was very successful in domestic cricket. He did not flourish in international cricket despite featuring in 79 matches across five years. He played his last game in 2012 at the age of 30.

Nevertheless, Yusuf had a lot of moments to cherish in his short international career. His international debut was a special one as he stepped on the field with the bat in Indian colours for the first time during the 2007 WT20 final against Pakistan.

Beast of domestic cricket:

Until the start of 2016, Yusuf Pathan held the record for scoring fastest centuries by an Indian in all three professional cricket formats: First-class (51 balls vs Central Zone in 2008), List A (40 balls vs Maharashtra in 2010) and Twenty20 (37 balls vs Mumbai Indians in 2010). Yusuf has 11 centuries in FC cricket till date out of which seven of them came in less than 100 balls and only once he reached the milestone taking more than 125 balls, a reason why his batting strike-rate in FC cricket reads 85.

The 40-ball one-day hundred came only a month before his record 37-ball IPL century against Mumbai Indians. Yusuf walked out to bat with Maharashtra needing 132 from 27 overs but his unbeaten 108 off 42 balls that included ten maximums wrapped up the chase with 81 balls to spare. Yusuf’s hundred during that game was the then 2nd fastest in List A cricket behind Shahid Afridi’s famous 37-ball ton in 1996.

Yusuf’s dream year:

In fact, a couple of weeks before his record hundred in the One-Day match, Yusuf Pathan powered West Zone to the Duleep Trophy title with his twin centuries. Yusuf, batting at No.4, smashed 108 in only 76 balls to help his team avoid follow on after they conceded 400 in the first innings. The South Zone skipper Dinesh Karthik scored 150+ runs in both innings to help his team set a target of 536 for West Zone which was to be chased in a little over two days.

West Zone collapsed to 294/5 and eventually finished the 4th day on 379/6. Yusuf Pathan, who ended the day on 84*, went crazy on the final day. Yusuf alone scored 126 runs and registered his maiden first-class double ton. The chase of the 536-run target is to the date, the highest successful chase in first-class cricket history which came to an end with Yusuf’s 10th six during his 210* off 190.

This chase marked the beginning of Yusuf Pathan’s dream 12-month period with the bat. Alongside his record centuries in List A and T20 formats, the elder Pathan smashed his both centuries in the ODI format. The first of them came against New Zealand where he walked to bat at 108/4 during a 316-run chase. Pathan smashed an unbeaten 123 in only 96 balls to light up the Chinnaswamy Stadium with six maximums.

Later in South Africa, the Indian team was reduced to 119/8 in a series decider while chasing 268 from only 46 overs. The pace attack of Proteas was too hot to handle for the Indians in the crucial match but not for Yusuf who walked in at 60/5. Pathan started cautiously and reached his fifty in 47 balls. His second 50 runs came in only 21 balls as he completed his 2nd ODI ton in 68 balls. India eventually lost the game but the knock remains memorable.