Irfan Pathan recounts a story of favouritism in the Indian squad during his playing days in an old tape that has recently gone viral. The Baroda all-rounder learnt that then-India captain MS Dhoni had expressed dissatisfaction with his bowling in an interview during the 2012 tour of Australia. He claimed that when he questioned Dhoni about it, the latter assured him that his bowling was OK.
Irfan Pathan continued by saying that in order to win someone over, players would need to set up a hookah in his room.
He claimed that in order to gain possibilities on the squad, he would never do that. Fans believed that the cricketer-turned-commentator was referring to Dhoni, even though he did not specifically name anyone.
On the other hand, a fan shared a story about Pathan and Dhoni’s friendship from their days playing for India on social media. A photo of a tiny bat bearing the autographs of Dhoni and Pathan was shared by the fan. He claimed that as a token of their friendship, the two great cricket players had signed it and requested him to keep it with him.
“I’ve had the honour of seeing firsthand the camaraderie between MS Dhoni and Irfan Pathan. Irfan, Mahi, and I were hanging out in a vehicle for a Pepsi shoot while I was in charge of Dhoni and a couple of other cricket players. The fan posted on Instagram, “What they did after being given tiny bats to sign was evidence of their amazing bond.”
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They signed each other’s names on one side of a bat, adding the corny remark, “This is a permanent inscription of our friendship.” I still have it, since they instructed me to preserve it as evidence of their link. Memories of those times and numerous other tales of their relationship were evoked by the current news reports about them. I think the reports are more sensationalism than fact, based on what I’ve observed,” he continued.
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