It is well known that Irfan Pathan and Shahid Afridi of Pakistan are at odds. The fact that he got into a “dog fight” with the former Pakistani captain in the middle of the game, however, is novel.
Irfan Pathan was sitting aboard a plane with members of both teams during the 2005–06 Indian team trip to Pakistan. The flight was travelling from Lahore to Karachi.
“Afridi came and messed up my hair while I was sitting with Abdul Razzaq and said, ‘Yo kiddo, how are you?'” Pathan explained the incident on the Lallantop show. When I asked him, “Since when did you become my father?” he responded by using derogatory language.
The former India pacer went on to describe how he silenced the Pakistani all-rounder in mid-flight by making a dog analogy.
“What kind of meat is found here in Pakistan?” I asked Razzaq, turning to face him. Razaaq responded naively, listing the several types of meat that are served in Pakistan. “Don’t they have dog meat somewhere in Pakistan?” I asked. Razzaq was taken aback and enquired as to why I had said that.
I then replied courteously, “Afridi can’t stop barking right now, so it looks like he had that for dinner last night.”
And throughout the entire trip, Afridi remained completely silent,” Irfan Pathan.
Pathan added that he had a grievance against prominent pundit Harsha Bhogle since he failed to refute Afridi’s claim that he was the only authentic Pathan and that Irfan was a phoney.
In 173 games across all formats, the Baroda native concluded with 2821 runs and 301 wickets for India. He also recalled that he had removed Afridi 11 times in all international events.
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