Indeed sometimes life does imitate a fairy-tale. About ten summers back, the two Pathan siblings, Irfan and Yusuf, had dreams in their eyes and fire in their belly as they honed their cricketing skills playing together in the lanes near a mosque that was home to their family in Baroda.
However, today the two brothers have indeed come a long way from their humble beginning. Both gain strength from each other and are extremely supportive, and proud, of each other. They realised a childhood dream too when they played together in the Twenty20 World Cup final in South Africa in October last.
Yet, more than the green bags, it's their attractive cricket that has caught the imagination of the fans. While the 23-year old Irfan has played an important role in Team Mohali's five-match winning streak, his elder brother, the 25-year old Yusuf, has made the world sit up and take notice of his latent talent with his blazing knocks and handy off-spin in Team Jaipur's winning run. No wonder their respective teams occupy the top two positions in the points table.
Irfan is also the leading wicket-taker with Zaheer Khan, with 12 wickets to his credit while Yusuf has the distinction of hitting the fastest fifty in the tournament—off just 20 balls with five towering sixes and two fours.
"When we both played together
in the T20 World Cup final,
we realised a childhood dream"
"Yusuf is a much better cricketer than me. And I say this with great honesty and conviction," Irfan told TOI. "I just got lucky to get a break (in international cricket) much ahead of him. He is a smart bowler, an aggressive batsman and a good athletic fielder in any position. He is mentally strong and can single-handedly turn the game on its head."
Reflecting on the growing up years, Irfan says, "when we were growing up playing 'gully cricket' we both used to dream about playing for the country some day. I had to bowl to Yusuf for hours because he would never get out. Since a very young age he has been an inspiration for me and his words of wisdom helped me get better as a cricketer. When we both played together in the T20 World Cup final, we realised a childhood dream.
