Irfan Pathan
Pathan was born 27 October 1984 in Baroda, Gujarat, India and is of Pashtun (Pathan) ancestry, belonging to the Pathan community in Gujarat. He grew up with his elder brother Yusuf in a mosque in Vadodara, in an impoverished family. His father served as the muezzin. Although their parents wished them to become Islamic scholars, Pathan and his brother took an interest in cricket. Their games on the grounds off and inside the mosque often necessitated apologies from their father to Muslim worshippers who visited it. In the beginning his deliveries did not reach the other end of the cricket pitch, but rigorous six-hour training sessions in blazing heat and his family's sense of discipline saw him progress steadily.
Irfan Pathan
After scoring two consecutive ducks in the Test series against Sri Lanka, Pathan was elevated to opening in the second innings of the Second Test in Delhi, after regular opener Virender Sehwag was down with illness. Having taken 3/34 from 22 overs in the first innings, Pathan scored 93 runs, building on a first innings lead of 60 to help set up a winning target of 436. In the following match in Ahmedabad, he scored 82 runs and combined in a century stand with V. V. S. Laxman to revive India after an early batting collapse saw five wickets fall during the first half of the opening day. He also took seven wickets at an average of 26.00 runs in the series, which India won 2–0. Pathan later admitted that he had been disappointed in failing to score a Test century. Following his strong performances in 2005, Pathan was promoted in December to an A-grade contract by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.