During the World Cup 2019 captains’ meet-up, former Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed and his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli were asked about the hype of the India-Pakistan rivalry.
While Kohli had given an eloquent answer, Sarfaraz replied by saying, “My answer is also the same. No difference” which left everyone in splits.
Almost four years later, Sarfaraz opened up about the hilarious incident while speaking on the Nadir Ali Podcast.
“When we asked about the hype surrounding an India vs Pakistan match and how we react when people ask us for tickets, I said you can ask Virat first. I told him brother, why don’t you answer first? And Virat just started and went on. It was in England. I looked at him and was like ‘Bhai kab rukega? (When will you stop?). He kept using long words in English and all I could think of at that moment was ‘Who is going to translate all of this?’. I kept listening and said ‘Same answer’,” he stated.
Sarfaraz Ahmed, who led Pakistan to the ICC Champions Trophy triumph in 2017, also recalled the final match against India.
“This is a memory (winning the Champions Trophy) which I can never forget,” Sarfaraz said. “To win a final against India cannot be described in words. Had it been a normal match, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal. We had won matches against India earlier as well, in ICC events, bilateral series – in fact, we have won more. But to win against such a team, which could chase down any total was incredible.”
He further added, “No runs were enough for them. India had MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, whereas we had two-toothed toddlers. We had kids, who today are taking Pakistan cricket to greater heights. Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan Faheem Ashraf, they were all young players. If you compare their team with ours, there was absolutely no comparison. We had only 2 experienced players in Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik. The rest of the guys were so raw and new.”