Raring To Go

Young paceman Irfan Pathan terms his two-month countystint in England as tough but a rewarding one saying he is in perfect shape tostart the new season.

"It was a rewarding yet a tough experience whichwould hold me in good stead for the coming season with India," said Pathan,who would touch base on Wednesday, richer by his county experience inMiddlesex.

Pathan said he more or less met the objective withwhich he set out for England after an indifferent series against Pakistan athome.

"I wanted to go with a relaxed frame of mind. Ididn't want to pressurise myself with undue self-expectations and to that extentI largely succeeded. I also wanted to claim complete match-fitness," Pathan,who wants to continue in similar vein in the next season, said in an exclusiveinterview over telephone.

Pathan's goal to relax was a well-founded one. He tookto the new format of the game in the Twenty20 Cup like a duck to water and hasimpressively pushed Middlesex close to a berth in quarter-finals.

"I head the averages with 12 wickets from sixgames which is not bad if you consider only four overs a match are allotted to abowler and 400 runs in 40 overs is a regular occurrence," he said.

Pathan's best was reserved in his final game, ascorcher of a tie against Essex whose supporters created a din at Southgate yetwent away in complete silence as their side was humbled by 31 runs.

Pathan took 4 for 27 against a side which had the Flower brothers and Ronnie Iraniamong others. Overall, in none of his six games, he ever conceded more than 31runs in his spell. It was different in the longer county games where he had onlyfive wickets from three matches though he did his best to pull his weight withthe bat, returning an impressive average of 63.00 per innings.

"It is a demanding circuit - every team has three orfour present or former Test players and it is common for you to finish yourgame, head for the next venue in the evening and play a match next day.

"Unlike what I have been used to, getting a breakbefore and after a match, one seems to play cricket in an unbroken sequence incounty cricket." The 20-year-old said he could have put extra pressure onhimself in the past season where he picked up only 11 wickets from six Tests athome, including a rather unworthy average of 68.33 against Inzamam-ul Haq'steam.

Pathan's woes started from the time theAustralians arrived in India last October. He played the first two Tests, missedthe final two and then the first Test against South Africa in Kanpur, wherethree spinners were played.

There were murmurs he had rushed his return even whennot fully fit and his trademark in-swinging deliveries to the right-handers weremissing.

Even his consecutive five-wicket hauls against lowlyBangladesh didn't redeem his slipping image. Pathan today tends to go along witha few charges but claims the others were drummed up without a basis.

PTI