There is a certain rustic charm about Yusuf Pathan. He is still not entirely at ease with the flashbulbs and autograph hunters surrounding him. For a muezzin’s son from Baroda, fame came all of a sudden after his entry into the Indian Twenty20 squad.

Earlier this week, CEAT elected the all-rounder as the Indian Domestic Cricketer of the Year after a blazing season. Anchor Charu Sharma had a tough time making the elder Pathan speak a few words after the latter received his award from the legendary GR Vishwanath.

“Kuch to boliye” (Speak something), Charu urged him. But Pathan’s reply was “Bahut mushkil hain” (It is very tough) accompanied by a broad grin before hustling away from stage and settling in his chair near the corner of the hall.

Even when the under-19 players were dreaming of Honda Civic and other luxuries, Yusuf’s wishes were simple. “Bhaijan (Irfan Pathan) is in the India squad against South Africa, hopefully he will do well, not only in this series, but in the coming matches as well. Probably, one day we will play together for India for a long time, like Waugh brothers of Australia,” he said.

Perhaps, it was symbolic of his mindset as well, still untouched by the vagaries of modern day cricket, still comfortable with the relative obscurity of domestic cricket. The last domestic season, however, indicated that Yusuf might not able to remain in his comfort zone for long.

The turnaround in his fortune started when he scored runs by sackful in the Ranji Trophy for Baroda. He had a tally of 441 runs from seven matches at 44.10 and his strike rate of 110.80 was highly impressive.

That performance earned him a place in the Indian squad for the Twenty20 World Cup, though he played only in the final. Yusuf helped the men in blue to a flying start against Pakistan, culminating in India’s title win.

“The T20 title win is the most memorable moment in my career till date. It was a great moment for the entire team. The team was full youngsters and before the tournament nobody gave us a chance and we proved all of them wrong with a fine show. The victory was special, as it came against Pakistan in a high-profile final,” he said.
The all-rounder did not find a place in the squads for one-dayers against Pakistan and Australia, but he was far from getting dejected and scored heavily in the Duleep Trophy as well.

Good season
“It was a good last season for me. I have scored in Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy against good attacks. But the hundred against England Lions was a good effort as it spurred us into final. I also got a five-wicket haul in that match,” he said.

But in the final, West Zone fumbled against North Zone. Pathan could not do much with his off-spin, but made a gritty 61 in the second innings. But his effort came a tad late as North cruised to title win.

“It was disappointing that we could not win the Duleep Trophy. Personally, it was a good tournament for me, but winning the title would have been even more delightful,” Yusuf said.

He amassed 233 runs from three matches at 46.60. His strike continued to be impressive at 133.14.

Yusuf explained his approach. “The aggressive style comes naturally to me. In fact, both of us (Irfan and he) bat aggressively and look for runs always. Fortunately, everything came good for me last season, and I hope to carry that into the coming season as well,” he said.

Perhaps, it will not take long to see Pathan brothers guiding the fortunes of India together. Just as he wishes.