I drew from Rohit's attack on Mortaza: Irfan Pathan
JOHANNESBURG: Several years ago, Irfan Pathan and Mashrafe Mortaza spent time together training at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai. They became close friends and the bond was strengthened over the years as they keep meeting one other over the years on the sidelines of international contests.
But in the past 48 hours the found one more common cause: Rohit Sharma. In less than 20 hours, the young Deccan Chargers vice-captain played two cameos to light up the final week of DLF Indian Premier League. And the two friends Irfan and Mortazan were at the receiving end on either occasion.
Irfan sat up and saw his friend Mortaza being taken apart by Rohit Sharma. The young batsman smashed 26 runs off Mortaza's final over of the match and scripted a remarkable win. Irfan was glued to the television, egging his friend on.
"Actually there were six guys from my team in my room, we wanted Kolkata Knight Riders to win, because it would have helped us. At the same time we knew that they were not winning, so wanted them to win as well. And Mashrafe was unlucky as well," Irfan Pathan said an interview to iplt20.com .
"It wasn't his fault that the first ball was ruled a no-ball," he said. "I don't know if it was the captain or maybe the fielder's fault, only three fielders were inside. It wouldn't have gone for a boundary. They would have won it. Definitely I felt for him, because I knew how difficult it is, when you don't play throughout the season and then suddenly you play in one game. Batsmen like Gilly and Symonds go after you, you can't do much."
Having been through several situations like this in his career, Irfan could not help but sympathise with his friend. "Definitely I felt for him but it happens in cricket. I haven't got a chance to speak to him after that. It's better to sometimes leave people alone, when they are down. I couldn't meet him though."
But as luck would have it, Irfan was at the receiving end. And this time, Irfan felt his task was tougher but he was ready. "They (Deccan) needed only 11 or 12 runs. Obviously I knew I am going to bowl the last over. That's the whole thing. Brett Lee and I bowl the last overs which are very crucial. I thought Lee would not have gone for runs but it happens in cricket. He went for one six and one four. I thought maybe I might have to bowl if they needed 16 or something runs. It wasn't the case they needed 11 or 12 runs off the last over. Obviously the pressure was there."
Then it was strategy time, captain Yuvraj Singh, vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara got into a huddle with Irfan and they planned as quickly as possible. "We talked about some strategy according to pitch what we needed to do. We needed to have more variations in terms of slower ones. We knew Rohit played yorkers very well. He really went for the yorkers that were slightly off-line. Like the full tosses, he hit sixes big time. We knew that we don't need to bowl yorkers all the time, maybe one odd ball and bowl a lot of slower ones."
But Rohit Sharma was batting like a dream now, he picked out a couple of runs by playing it down the ground. Then came the shot which probably swung the match in Deccan' Chargers' favour. He scooped the ball over the short third-man to help himself to a boundary.
"In a way I thought its easy thing for them now, after that they needed five runs off four balls. Then again I bowled a wide. The equation just kept getting close. When Rohit hit that boundary I thought there should be a miracle now. And it happened, I bowled a slower ball and Rohit got out."
It just became simpler from thereon, RP Singh skyed one to Irfan and the bowler knew the game was in the bag. Off the last ball, Ryan Harris played a ball towards sweeper cover but did not run for the third one. It was a bit surprising that Harris did not attempt more than two runs when three were required to tie the game. But Irfan was not surprised by the turn of events. "The non-striker was going for the third but one of them would have been run out," he said.
Anyways Harris' folly gave Irfan a chance to jump, rejoice and shout for the win they achieved. "I was a on a high. For 15 minutes I lay there on the ground. I was so happy talking to whoever came to me, talking to fans. I am telling you even if somebody would have come and slapped me, I would not have realised. I had the same feeling when we won the ICC World Twenty20. Obviously winning a game in IPL is not the same as winning a World Cup but it felt pretty similar."
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