Ex-India all-rounder Irfan Pathan recently shared a fascinating anecdote from his playing days where he had a heated exchange with former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi on a flight.
In an interview with Lallantop, Pathan revealed that the Indian team was on the tour of Pakistan in 2006 when the players of both sides took the same flight from Karachi to Lahore. That’s where the former cricketers got into an argument as Pathan claimed that Afridi started it by messing up his hair and calling him a kid.
“During the 2006 tour, we were travelling by flight from Karachi to Lahore. Both teams were travelling together. Afridi came and placed his hand on my head, messing up my hair. He asked me, ‘How are you kid?’ I said, ‘Tu kab se mera baap ban gaya? (Since when have you become my father?)’,".
“The childish behaviour was actually his. He was not my friend. After that, Afridi said some abusive words to me. His seat was right next to mine," Pathan said.
The conversation that followed was hilarious, to say the least. Pathan was sitting next to Abdul Razzaq, and he casually asked him about the different kinds of meat available in Pakistan, which took the former Pakistan all-rounder by surprise.
“Abdul Razzaq was sitting with me then. I asked him what kind of meat is available here. He told me about the different kinds of meat. Then I asked if dog meat was available. Afridi was sitting right there. Razzaq was shocked to hear this and said, ‘Hey Irfan, why are you saying this?’," he added.
Pathan didn’t take a backseat and went on to say that Afridi might have had dog meat, which is why he keeps barking.
“I said, ‘He (Afridi) has eaten dog meat, he has been barking for a long time’. After that, Afridi couldn’t say anything. Whatever he might have said, I would have just said, ‘Look, he is barking again.’ After this, he remained silent throughout the flight," Pathan said.
“From this incident, he understood that he could not win against me verbally. That’s why he never said anything to me again," he further remarked.
