He is Pakistani, six feet six and bowls at a lively pace. Meet Mohammed Irfan Junior. He is not related to the Mohammed Irfan who was more than seven feet tall and was the reason Indian batters trained facing balls being bowled by support staff standing on chairs in the 2015 World Cup. But his bounce is disconcerting alright. Virat Kohli realised that, and so did Dinesh Karthik as India sought to move on from their exhilarating win over Pakistan
He is Pakistani, six feet six and bowls at a lively pace. Meet Mohammed Irfan Junior. He is not related to the Mohammed Irfan who was more than seven feet tall and was the reason Indian batters trained facing balls being bowled by support staff standing on chairs in the 2015 World Cup. But his bounce is disconcerting alright. Virat Kohli realised that, and so did Dinesh Karthik as India sought to move on from their exhilarating win over Pakistan by attending an optional training session here on Tuesday.
It was optional but almost the entire team was present since there would be no training before Thursday’s match against the Netherlands. One by one, KL Rahul, Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant and Shardul Thakur took to nets. Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami were among the few who skipped training but this is generally a day when net bowlers too get a look in. Irfan Jr was one of them. Contracted with the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club, Irfan got himself registered the moment the cricket management of New South Wales sent out a link inviting net bowlers. He got a call to bowl to India on Tuesday.
“I wasn’t given any brief as such. Just went with the flow and kept hitting my natural lengths,” said the 27-year-old. Hitting those lengths from a height of almost eight feet is always going to worry for any batter. And Irfan is skiddy, like a right-handed Sohail Tanvir. But Kohli is in a different frame of mind, middling everything and even finding the most ridiculous shots for balls that can’t be scored off.
Irfan Jr, however, was persuasive. Kohli left the first ball. Then he middled it. The next was played on the rise. Just when it looked Kohli was playing him well, Irfan got one to rise just enough for him to fend it away from chin height. Then came another delivery, angled in, with bounce, that took an inside edge off Kohli’s bat and almost hit his off-stump. “Well bowled,” said Kohli while picking up the ball from the side net.
Irfan has rubbed shoulders with big names in the past. Born in Nankana Sahib, Punjab, he has played 22 first-class matches in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan A and also for three Pakistan Super League (PSL) teams—Karachi Kings, Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators. “I have trained and played with most of the current Pakistan players, including Babar Azam,” said Irfan. “I last played in 2019, for Quetta.”
It seems like a good thing going, getting gigs from different franchises but ‘haalat’ (circumstances), Irfan said, brought him to Australia in search of a more reliable source of income. A contract with Western Suburbs District Club, where the likes of Mitchell Starc and Michael Clarke have played, till 2028 finally took care of that concern.
“My main advantage is bounce. And I get that naturally because of my height,” said Irfan who also troubled Dinesh Karthik later. But it was the brief spell to Kohli Irfan says he can never forget, that too just after the innings he played on Sunday.
"It was like a dream, bowling to him. He is a world-class batter. He is a great human being too. I absolutely loved the experience,” said Irfan who had to watch the India-Pakistan game on television because he was playing for the club that day. “Everyone appreciated my bowling. Even Rahul Dravid came up and said ‘well bowled’.”
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