By Gaurang - Jan 6 2004
June 24 2004

The rookie Indian paceman Irfan Pathan came of age in Sydney. He bowled as well as any fast bowler from either side during this match, including Gillespie. It was the unpredictability of Irfan Pathan's swing that had Waugh edging a drive in the first innings. He also can use the old ball effectively and has a mean reverse swinging yorker, which Gilchrist can attest to, as well as a good change of pace, which had Ponting caught and bowled. At 19 he is still raw, but he as all the weapons to become a real force in the Indian attack. These two big Tests, Adelaide and Sydney, will have given him tremendous confidence and he must have learned a lot, least of which will not be the fact that he has scalped, Hayden, Ponting, Gilchrist and Waugh: all of the four Australians who have batting averages above 50.

At the start of the tour, one of the aims for the Indians would have been to find a trio or quartet of pace bowlers who can take them to wins overseas. With the progress of Agarkar, who should have picked up Langer again yesterday, as well as Hayden, who survived an uppish slash through Sehwag’s fingers, the emergence of Pathan; and the return to fitness and form of Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra respectively, India have found a very capable quartet indeed.

The bonus was that Pathan also showed great promise with the bat. His cover drive off Lee followed by an attempted hook of the predictable bouncer that followed, showed a class that indicates he has the talent to become as good with the bat as that former Mumbai and Saurashtra left armer, Karsan Ghavri. Few realize that Ghavri has the highest batting average of any player who has played 20 or more Test innings at No. 9 in the batting order. This lad can achieve that.

Finally, his fielding and presence on the ground showed that he belongs at this level. I am excited about the promise he holds. I wish him a great VB series, and hope that Khan and Nehra get to full fitness fast. India’s fast bowling cupboard is looking well stocked again, with these four and Munaf Patel, L. Balaji and Avishkar Salvi, still waiting to make the grade.