9. Irfan Pathan, India
I was a child back then and even I was amazed by seeing this young left handed fast bowler. Just 19 years of age, on a tour to the land down under, to say he was impressive would be a travesty to his exploits on that Tour. He had the world beaters Australians on the mat, Hayden Caught behind, Gilchrist bowled, Steve Waugh hit wicket it all seemed so unreal, and thus promising. Wasim Akram, the greatest left arm bowler ever, who was doing commentary in that series, was seen giving advices to this young lad. He also seemed excited by this young prodigy. It seemed India finally had that X factor they were on the look-out for, for as long as I can remember. Some bad advices, allegedly by Greg Chappell who wanted him to turn into a batting all-rounder, over burnt by the rigors of International Cricket, he first got injured, a hamstring broke, sometimes the ankle. If all that seemed enough, Irfan lost that famous in swinger, which troubled Mohammad Yusuf and many others completely. And Irfan and Indian bowling were again the sorry faces they were before. Irfan Pathan started a template in Indian Cricket which played out for many coming years- A young small town bowler – check, had pace and promise – check, could prodigiously swing the ball- check, took the world by storm- check and finally, burned out in 1-2 years checked. The names kept changing, Balaji, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar but Irfan was the original. Irfan comes in at number 9 on our list of Top 10 would have been legends.
