Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Pathan (Urdu:ماسٹردا یوسف خان پٹھان, Hindi:युसुफ पठान) (born 17 November 1982) is an Indian cricketer. Pathan made his debut in first-class cricket in 2001/02. He is a powerful and aggressive right-handed batsman and a right-arm offbreak bowler. His younger brother Irfan Pathan is also an Indian cricketer.

Personal life

Yusuf was born in the Pathan family, who are of Pashtun (Pathan) ancestry (belonging to the Pathan community in Gujarat). Yusuf married Mumbai based physiotherapist Afreen on 27 March 2013. His wife gave birth to a boy on 17 April 2014.

Career

Following his impressive performances in the 2007 Deodhar Trophy and the Inter-state domestic Twenty20 competition held in April 2007, Pathan was made a part of the Indian squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship, held in South Africa in September 2007. He made his Twenty20 international debut in the final against Pakistan. He opened the batting for India in the match, and scored 15 runs in the process.

Following his good showing in the IPL, he was selected for the Indian one-day team. After IPL, though he played all the games in the Kitply Cup and Asia Cup, he got to bat only four times and could not perform well with both bat and ball. He was later dropped from the series against Sri Lanka. He performed well in domestic circuit and impressed the selectors and was selected for the England ODI series in November. He scored a fifty off just 29 balls in the second ODI against England in Indore, on his 26th birthday.