Pathan brothers create history

JOHANNESBURG: The Pathan brothers from Vadodara, Irfan and Yusuf, Monday became the first siblings to represent India in Twenty20 matches.

Irfan and Yusuf also became the eighth pair of siblings to represent India in international cricket - after a gap of almost 29 years.

The last time two brothers represented India was way back in 1978 when Mohinder and Surinder Amarnath played against Pakistan in the final of the three-match one-day series in Quetta.

Bishen Bedi, the then captain, conceded the match in protest against the short-pitched bowling tactics of Pakistan.

Seven pairs of brothers have so far won Test caps for India, starting from the very first Test, against England, at Lord's in 1932. The team included Wazir and Nazir Ali.

In the next Test in Bombay in 1933-34, Amar Singh played alongside his brother Ladha Ramji while in the next match in Calcutta, Cottari Kanakaiya Nayudu played alongside his brother Cottari Subbanna.

The late 1950s and early 60s again saw more brothers playing for India: Arvind and Madhav Apte, Subhash and Baloo Gupte, and A.G. Kripal and A.G. Milkha Singh.

In the 1970s, the Amarnath brothers played together several times. The Amarnaths also have a good claim to being India's foremost cricketing family, as their father Lala captained India and also scored the country's first Test century.