The 7ft 1in bowler from the small town of Pakistan Mohammad Irfan talked to media to reveal his journey from a plastic factory foreman to Pakistan dressing room. Mohammad Irfan is the tallest known cricketer in the history of world cricket before English county players Anthony Allom, Paul Dunkels and Will Jefferson who were 6ft 10in were considered as tallest.
Mohammad Irfan describes his hardships and the road to which he reached the Pakistan Cricket. The 30 year old who belongs to a small town of Gaggu Mandi in Pakistan says that coming to cricket was not easy for me. I belong to a labor, lower-class family where I had limited facilities and had to face harshness of nature, it was not easy for me to leave my family work and the PVC factory from where I was earning my livelihood, for cricket. He pays tribute to his mentor Nadeem Iqbal who made him believe that he can become an asset for Pakistan one day.
Irfan told, I started playing cricket with a tennis ball for entertainment but always wanted to play proper cricket with hard-ball. I didn’t have enough money to buy proper cricketing kit so I started playing in Shalwar Kameez. To complete the dream, of playing hard-ball cricket I joined a local cricket club managing cricket shoes with help of my friends. Later I joined Khan Research Laboratory and it was only after that my cricketing skills start proving and I came into first-class cricket in 2009 for the first time, before that cricket was just a source of amusement. In 2008, I was uncertain for my future when I went to National Cricket Academy and met several cricketing stars who made me realize that I have exceptional talent and abilities. Aaqib Javed trained me and I made my first-class debut. My first game was not remarkable but in the second match I took nine wickets which lifted up my confidence. I was selected for Pakistan-A team and continued my performance. In 2010, I managed to make a spot in Pakistan team on a tour of England, unfortunately it did not went good because I was not able to handle the international pressure. It was the time when I was down and I realized that height is not ever thing for me and I started the hard work, more practice and proper routine. I made a remarkable comeback against India.
Mohammad Irfan is now selected for the test squad for South Africa and hopes to continue his good form on a question about his permanent place in team he says that he is not sure about that but as long as he is performing he will remain in team.
Mohammad Irfan has proven himself, his journey from being a foreman to a paceman is exemplary.