Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Pathan is an Indian cricketer, and together with his younger half-brother, Irfan Pathan Irfan Pathan, born on October 27, 1984, has a half >> Read More... , he forms the formidable Pathan Brothers duo. Yusuf started his career in cricket at a tender age, but he first made his mark at the cusp of adulthood in the Vijay-Merchant Trophy as a hard-hitting batsman and an equally formidable off-spin bowler in the Baroda Under-16 team. Yusuf caught the eye of the scouts as a potential hitter, and he kept giving them more explosive performances as part of the Baroda U-19 and the West Zone U-19 teams. Yusuf made his Ranji debut in the year 2000, against Saurashtra. By the time he had established himself as a regular in the Baroda squad, his younger brother Irfan, had already donned the national colors. Pathan had the highest strike rate in the 2006-07 Ranji Trophy – this bought him a ticket to the Indian squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa, that was held in September 2007.

Yusuf gave a decent performance in the tournament, which in turn led him to be bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders cricket team under superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s ownership in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Yusuf kept the show coming, and this led to him being selected for the Indian squad for one-day matches. For a while, Yusuf seemed to have lost his prowess as he gave a series of average performances and was dropped from the team. He took it as a challenge and impressed his way to the team again for the ODI series against England in November. There, he clobbered the English bowlers as he scored a fifty off just 29 deliveries in the second ODI. Yusuf did not fail to impress the selectors continually after this series and kept racking huge scores on the cards. Former captain of the Indian team, Gautam Gambhir Born to the textile business manager Deepak Gambhi >> Read More... , said, “I have always said Pathan can finish games on his own, and that's what he did today, I had never seen something like this before. But I knew till the time Pathan was there, we would win the game.” This was said after Yusuf’s power hitting score of 123 off 96 deliveries helped the Indian team overhaul the mammoth target of 316 set by the New Zealand team.

The brothers, Irfan and Yusuf, jointly launched the Cricket Academy of Pathans (CAP in short) on September 11, 2014. The Academy tied up with the former coach of the Indian team, Greg Chappell, and brought in Cameron Tradell as the chief mentor. The website of CAP says, “Cricket Academy of Pathans is an institute born out of a simple thought of ‘giving back’ and is all set to revolutionize the standards of coaching and development of cricket in India. After their notable contribution over the years to Indian cricket, the Pathan brothers now intend to eradicate the one major hurdle in the path of churning out talented cricketers from India: lack of proper coaching. Since only the best can promisingly turn out the best, CAP also has on board, Greg Chappell and Cameron Tradell, the renowned coaches from Australia, as the chief mentors of CAP.”

Another Version of this Bio...

Born on 17th of November, in the year 1982, Yusuf Pathan is a thirty-three-year-old Indian cricketer who is well known for being a powerful right-handed batsman, as well as a bowler. Yusuf Pathan was first put on the cricket map by making the cut for the U-16 Baroda Team, and then slowly moving up the ranks to playing for India in the World Championships in the year 2007. Brother of another cricketer, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan is a newly married man who has been married to his wife, Afreen, since 2013. His wife, Afreen, just recently gave birth to a bouncing baby boy on the 17th of April, 2014. Born in Gujarat, Yusuf Pathan first made his big break as a cricketer by making it to first class cricket in the years of 2001 and 2002.

Now, playing the role of an all-rounder, Yusuf Pathan was initially a part of the Twenty20 World Championships, an inaugural competition that was held in South Africa in the year 2007. In the Indian Premier League, Yusuf Pathan was signed by the team of Rajasthan Royals, by being bid on for a sum of 1.9 crore rupees. Pathan is now signed to the Kolkata Knight Riders for a large sum of 1.2 million dollars, and now holds the world record for the fastest half-century, in the match against the Deccan Chargers.

As one of the key players in the Indian Premier League, Yusuf Pathan hit his cricket peak by hitting a 210, not out, to defeat the West Zone. However, his inconsistent performances in the recent matches played in the Indian Premier League has put his status as a previous Man Of The Match at risk, and he is yet to redeem himself as a member of a Kolkata Knight Riders.