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Perhaps the tallest cricketer in the world right now, Mohammad Irfan, is a Pakistani left-arm medium-fast bowler.


Name: Mohammad Irfan

Birth date: June 6, 1982
Hometown: Gaggu Mandi, Punjab
Teams: Pakistan, Baluchistan Bears, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Multan Tigers, Pakistan A
Debut: Test: February 14, 2013 l ODI: September 10, 2010 l T20I: December 25, 2012
 
 
 

Perhaps the tallest cricketer in the world right now, Mohammad Irfan, is a Pakistani left-arm medium-fast bowler.

At the age of 27 years, he made a comeback to cricket (with the help of PakPassion.net and Nadeem Iqbal), after his lack of connections finally materialized into a meeting with the retired Pakistani fast bowler, Aaqib Javed.

Once recommended by the legendary Wasim Akram to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders (in the IPL), Mohammad Irfan created quite a buzz but unfortunately, the deal with the franchise never went through. Towering at a height of 7 ft 1 in, this bowler (hailing from Punjab), was immediately recognized for “being special” by Aaqib Javed.

While developing his skills at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, Irfan finally got selected for first-class cricket in October 2009. Playing for Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Irfan was unable to obtain any wickets on debut. However, with a fighting spirit, he came back strongly and ended the tournament with a 43 wicket haul, and also obtained a memorable 5 for 27 against Karachi Whites.
 

Interestingly, due to a rather surprising turn of events-which involved a spot-fixing allegation against the Amir-Asif bowling duo, Mohammad Irfan ended up receiving a timely opportunity to make his ODI debut. Playing against England, sadly, his introduction did not live up to the expectation that many fans were banking on.

That all changed in 2012/13 during Pakistan's tour to India. Mohammad Irfan made a roaring comeback to the side being instrumental in Pakistan's ODI series victory. He extracted bounce and pace which the Indian top order found hard to handle. 

He made his Test debut in the series against South Africa one month later. He bowled impressively taking three wickets. This series in particular established him as an integral part of the Pakistan bowling lineup. He continued to impress with his bowling through the summer but came into his own against South Africa during the series in UAE where he took 8 wickets in Test matches and was instrumental in ensuring a drawn result for the series.

 

Since the end of 2013 Irfan has only sparingly been used in important limited overs matches in order to preserve his fitness. As a result in the lead upto the 2015 World Cup Irfan only played ODIs and a few T20Is so that he could be at his lethal best for the big tournament. Irfan impressed everyone in the tournament by taking 8 wickets in 5 matches. However his injury problems came back to haunt him midway through the tournament as he suffered a stress fracture in the pelvis. As a result he missed the crucial quarter final against Australia as Pakistan crashed out of the tournament.

Irfan's injury problem meant that he missed the tour of Bangladesh and the historic home ODI series against Zimbabwe. With his uncertain fitness it remains to be seen what role Irfan can play for Pakistan for the rest of his career.

[Last updated: June 14, 2015]