Where did this Pathan go?

In the just concluded Duleep Trophy final, Yusuf Pathan kicked some serious butt that helped West Zone trounce South! In the same match, Yusuf's half brother Irfan took a laborious five-wicket haul in the first innings and with that he claimed the 300th wicket of his first class career in front of empty stands in Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International stadium.
To me, it was rather sad to see the guy who was hailed as the next Kapil Dev not too long ago, toiling away on a dead wicket, far away from the gaze of national selectors and in this case spectators as well. After all, here is a guy who has been in the public eye for long, has performed when it mattered the most (Man of the match awards in 2007 T20 World Cup final & the Perth Test in the aftermath of ‘Monkeygate’) and has the figures to show that he is better than his nearest competitors.
Irfan Pathan’s batting average (31.57) isn’t too far from that of England’s talismanic all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (31.77), while his bowling average (32.26) is a shade better than Freddie’s average of 32.78. Irfan has claimed seven 5-wicket hauls in 22 Tests to Flintoff’s three fivers in 79 Tests. When the British media speaks about Andrew Flintoff it almost borders on reverence but Irfan, somehow, has gone off the radar from India’s cricket crazy fans’ collective consciousness. India has desperately looked for an all-rounder and when on song, Irfan has seemed like an answer to the prayers of a billion strong nation. Yes, he has lost his pace but on ‘helpful’ tracks he can trouble the best in business through his movement whereas when compared to the likes of Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Sudip Tyagi among others, his batting ability is light years ahead.
Irfan needs to be persisted with, especially in longer form of the game where perseverance is as important as ability and pace and bar Zaheer Khan, all of India’s quick bowlers fail the test of patience. Son of a poor Muzzein from Vadodara, Irfan came up till the U-19 circuit the hard way and from then onwards he took the highway before making this unscheduled halt. Irfan last played for India in February 2009, while his last Test appearance was in April 2008 (vs South Africa); he is just 25 and has time on the hand, all he needs is an opportunity. It’s time we look beyond the usual suspects.