Pakistan Cricket Players: Mohammad Irfan

Mohammad Irfan Biography

source(google.com.pk)

Mohammad Irfan (born 6 June 1982) is a Pakistani left arm fast bowler, hailing from an Aulakh Jatt family from Gaggu Mandi Punjab. In an interview with Pakpassion, Irfan has confirmed his height is indeed 7'1", after speculations.[1] This makes him the tallest player to play first class and International cricket.[2][3]

After impressing coaches at the NCA Irfan got several offers from First Class teams including Habib Bank and ZTBL. However it was KRL opener, Azhar Ali, who convinced KRL coach Rashid Iqbal to give Irfan a trial with Khan Research Laboratories (KRL). Azhar had seen Irfan take 4 wickets against Pakistan A and had immediately called KRL telling them that Irfan would be a good fit for their team. Irfan went for the trial and got selected, the first part of his dream was complete.
He made his first class debut in the QEA Trophy in October 2009 playing for Khan Research Laboratories. He bowled economically but was unable to take any wickets in a high scoring game.[4] In his second first class game, Irfan took 7-113 in the second innings and 9 wickets overall in the match. His first wicket in professional cricket was of young Pakistani international batsmen Ahmed Shehzad. He also took the wicket of Imran Farhat and injured Hasan Raza with a bouncer before taking his wicket.[5]
Irfan continued to impress early on in his first class career. In his third match he grabbed 11 wickets to help his side to the first win of the championship. He recorded 5/27 in the first innings and 6/96 in the second innings.[6]
Before he was offered a lucrative break in cricket, Irfan contemplated giving up the game and was working for a plastic pipe company. He confirmed his height as 7'1 which makes him the tallest first-class cricketer of all time above county players Anthony Allom, Paul Dunkels and Will Jefferson, all variously measured at 6'10.[1]

Irfan has an official 'fan page' on the popular social networking site Facebook, and also a fan blog on cricistan.com where it provides frequent updates about Irfan and his career.[7]