Focus is key for tall Mohammad Irfan after rapid rise to IPL

Promising paceman goes from foreman in rural Punjab to IPL recruit, but Yasser Alvi hopes the Pakistani can stay the course.

Mohammad Irfan, seen here in action on October 18, 2009, has a rags-to-riches story to tell. One can only hope that the fast bowler does not take a U-turn in his career.

Cricket is a sport more renowned for cucumber sandwiches and genteel middle-class values than for the astounding rags to riches tales that are the norm in more 'working class' sports such as football or basketball. After all, this is meant to be the "gentleman's game". The occasional "fairy tale" in cricket thus becomes all the more remarkable by its relative rarity. Few stories, in any sport, are as heart-warming though as that of Mohammad Irfan, the Pakistani pace bowler who is nearly seven-feet tall and was recently awarded an Indian Premier League (IPL) contract by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise.

It truly is the stuff of fairy tales: the story of an unknown amateur club cricketer in rural Pakistan, from a working class background, with no connections, no coaching and without even proper cricket kit. Someone who was destined for life as a factory worker, but now, less than a year later, stands on the brink of international recognition, having just signed a memorandum of understanding to join the most lucrative cricket league in the world. If this was Hollywood, the script-writers would be asked to tone down the saccharine.

What makes this story even more remarkable is how this transformation came about. This was not the oft-maligned Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) plucking a gem from obscurity; instead, it was volunteer interventions from Pakistani fans that got Irfan his breaks. He was working as a foreman in a plastic pipe factory earning less than US$100 (Dh367) a month, playing club cricket in southern Punjab, when he was spotted by a few die-hard fans from a cricket website and sent to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for trials.

Aaqib Javed, the former Pakistan fast bowler and now assistant coach, was suitably impressed with what he saw, and put in a good word. Eventually, the fans helped Irfan get in touch with the captain of a domestic team, and he managed to get a first-class contract, playing his first first-class match in October 2009 at the age of 27. Selection for national team camps followed this year, where Waqar Younis, among others, was suitably impressed. In fact, the frailties of Pakistani batsmen to top-class pace and bounce were exposed by Irfan at a national camp, where some of Pakistan's senior batsmen were worried about facing him, due to his height and the bounce he was able to generate.

Not surprisingly, Irfan has been selected for the Pakistan "A" team's tour to Sri Lanka later this month, and a full international debut should not be far off, which would make him not only the tallest player to every play for Pakistan, but also possibly the tallest Test player of all time. In the meantime though, there is the lucrative IPL contract, one he credits to Wasim Akram, the Pakistan legend and bowling consultant at KKR. The gentle giant spoke earlier this week of his debt to Wasim. "Initially it was Wasim who recommended me to KKR management as he was really impressed by my work and wanted me to be in the team that he coaches. He told me to come to Sri Lanka where KKR were touring. I played a few games there and put in some impressive performances. When KKR offered me a contract I was in two minds about this but Wasim told me to sign it as soon as possible."

Next time someone warns you not to dream the impossible, tell them of the Irfan fairy tale! If only the PCB could display the same courage in selecting a rookie as on the recommendation of a Pakistan great. There is some consternation among Indian cricket fans however, who feel that the KKR franchise owner Shahrukh Khan, the Bollywood mega-star, has a soft spot for Pakistani players. For reasons best known to him, Shahrukh has demonstrated a preference for signing up Pakistanis at his Kolkata franchise, despite its potential adverse implications in India. It will be up to Irfan and his mentor Wasim to win over a potentially hostile public.

Irfan follows the tradition of talented but unsophisticated Pakistani fast bowler, Mohammad Aamer, the 18-year-old pace sensation being the most recent, with many other notable mentions over the years. It is remarkable how Pakistan can churn out highly capable pace bowlers yet struggles to find even a half-decent batsman who can last a few overs if there are a few clouds! Speaking of Pakistani fast men of yore, Irfan is not the first Pakistani pace sensation to hail from Gaggu Mandi, a small town in Tehsil Burewala, in rural Punjab. Another cricketer of note from Gaggu Mandi was Mohammad Zahid, perhaps the fastest bowler ever produced by Pakistan. In the words of Shoaib Akhtar, the man recorded as having bowled the fastest in Test and ODI cricket and himself no slouch when it came to pace: "Zahid was a yard or two faster than me!"

Zahid hit the international arena with a bang in the mid-90s, taking seven for 66 against New Zealand at Pindi in his debut Test in 1996, the best performance by a Pakistan bowler on debut. Sadly, a promising career was soon cut short by a debilitating back fracture. Even Zahid though was not a pioneer; he was merely following in the footsteps of the legendary Waqar Younis. That fact tells us what we already knew: all new Pakistan pace bowlers have huge boots to fill.

They are all tasked with maintaining a legacy and keeping alive a glorious tradition. Irfan's lot will be no different; is he another gem discovered from obscurity? Or will he head the way of Mohammad Sami, a rookie pacer who promised much but delivered nought? If Irfan's rags to riches story tells us anything, it is this: the big man has an equally big heart, and will keep on trying no matter how high the odds stacked against him.

Yasser Alvi is a cricket writer at PakPassion.net [e-mail]