Irfan with Sanga and Abdulla take care of Royals

The role of an all-rounder in the shortest format of the game becomes most crucial considering the contributions they can make. India's been searching for someone from this ilk and the choice has always narrowed down to one man, Irfan Pathan. The left-handed all-rounder has been an enigma throughout his career as he has had as many lows as highs.

Sunday was a good way to remind his detractors that he is very much around. He came in at a time when Kings XI Punjab were struggling at 48 for four against Rajasthan Royals in the DLF Indian Premier League here. The situation demanded a major repair job. Kumar Sangakkara was the last of the recognised batsmen at the crease.

Irfan Pathan then teamed up with Sangakkara to haul Kings XI out of a hole. The two added 75 runs for the fifth wicket and helped Sangakkara shore up the struggling batting effort.

Irfan got the ball to swing. The delivery with which he got Smith was a cracking delivery. I think it's come out really well for Kings XI Punjab. They had to come out aggressively. They did that, they picked up a lot of wickets.

Irfan Pathan has been one player who has really struggled to make the cut from the Twenty20 format to the other forms of cricket, Tests and ODIs. There have been various theories propounded for that. A lot has been said about his inability to swing the ball, his lack of ability to be a penetrative bowler at the next level. It has always been a case of Irfan never living upto his potential in the other formats.

I think it's a case in Twenty20 that you have to just bowl four overs. And if you have to bat, you have to bat 10 overs. In the longer version of the game you need to have more variety, for him to be consistent performer and make it to the Test side again he will have to be able to that job of a third seamer which means bowl long spells, swing the ball and be able to pick up the wickets," .

But the most talked about contest of the day was the tussle between Irfan Pathan and his elder brother Yusuf. "It's like a typical brother story where they would have played a lot of street cricket with one other. They would have bowled a lot against one other and been extremely competitive," .

First up Irfan Pathan took 14 runs off Yusuf Pathan in just nine balls. He struck a six as well off Yusuf. Then Yusuf came out to bat, Irfan Pathan was ready to bowl to him. Yusuf Pathan picked eight runs off seven balls, including two fours. But the contest was short-lived.