Like every player in the Rajasthan Royals team, Shane Warne had a specific brief for Yusuf Pathan too in the inaugural Indian Premier League(IPL). Just hit straight, over the bowler's head. Capitalise on your reach, power and go for big hits, Pathan was told.
Indeed, a look at Pathan's IPL wagon-wheel will reveal that out of the 435 runs he had scored in 15 innings, 221 came in that area.
Now, if that's the picture of Pathan's batting we had in mind, of a batsman who simply likes to play with a straight bat, his half-century in the second One-dayer at Indore presented a completely different picture. This time, there were sweeps and reverse sweeps, pulls and drives, shots square of the wicket, that were completely different from what Warne had in mind.
He may have followed Warnie's advice with his first few shots but once his confidence was restored, he exploded. The important thing is he fulfilled whatever was asked of him by his two captains: Warne and MS Dhoni. The 50 in Indore came off 29 balls while an average 50 in the IPL had taken about 25 balls, with the quickest coming in 21.
Yusuf might have scored those runs at a crucial time but there is an even more important twist to his first success as an India One-day player. India can now bat all the way down till Number 7 and not to have worry about a fifth bowler. Indeed, the big question is can he, along with Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag's spin, add up as the elusive all-rounder?
If the wise-men were to visit Baroda once, the Moti Bagh ground in the heart of the city to be specific, they might find an answer. Out there, Yusuf has always been rated as a cricketer with distinct all-round abilities, long before Irfan had arrived.
"What we usually give a miss are his first class wickets. He's got 84 in 32 matches with his off-spin. Ask batsmen who've faced him in the domestic circuit, and you'll know he's very effective,'' says Yusuf's former Baroda captain and friend Mukesh Narula.
For Baroda, Yusuf has opened the innings, batted at number three, four and five and considering that he scored 148 for India 'A' in the match against New Zealand last month, the less said the better about his ability to adapt to the shifts.
"That's because he's one of those cricketers who likes to focus on what is required of him,'' says Narula.
It is no secret that India, in One-dayers especially, have never been supportive of the idea of walking in with five bowlers. Even in Tests, there are instances that can be counted on fingers, the number of times a five-man attack has been in place.
"With Irfan, that was exactly the case when he was at his peak. He would bowl his quota of ten overs and his batting had improved to the point that he was called to open or bat at number three," says Mehdi Sheikh, who coached the brothers during their school days.
To have Yusuf alongside Yuvraj and Virender, sharing the spot for the fifth and sixth bowlers, in an attack led by a three-man pace battery is as satisfying a combination as it gets for Dhoni. To add to it, where the emerging middle-order in India has the likes of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, bringing stability, Yusuf has the unique advantage of bringing in just raw aggression.
"Yusuf is a no-frills player, but he's very effective. I've seen him walk out on wet grounds with flat wickets, freshly rolled, also ironed (to get rid of the moisture) and bowl superbly economical spells,'' says Narula.
Bearing in mind what Yusuf's longtime coach and colleague have to say, it's a luring thought, and definitely not out of place, to see him emerge as that vital all-round cog in the Indian line-up.
There's a lot of One-day cricket to be played in the coming year, 21 ODIs and almost a double T20 matches if only the ICC's Future Tours Program (FTP) is to be considered. And knowing that selectors will seek a rotation plan, as Srikkanth has already hinted, Dhoni wouldn't mind having someone like Yusuf in his ranks.
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