[WATCH] ‘I don’t have the habit of setting up Hookah’ – Irfan Pathan’s old remark on MS Dhoni resurfaces

Irfan Pathan and MS Dhoni. (Photo source: X)

An old video of former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan speaking about MS Dhoni has resurfaced. In the video, Pathan had shed light on his sudden exit from the national setup and had also recalled a conversation with Dhoni.

The left-arm pacer revealed that he once approached Dhoni after hearing that the captain was unhappy with his bowling. However, Dhoni dismissed such claims and assured him that there was no truth to them.

Pathan represented India in 29 Tests, 120 ODIs, and 24 T20Is, scoring 2,821 runs across formats and claiming 301 wickets, including a memorable Test hat-trick against Pakistan. Despite taking a five-wicket haul in his last ODI appearance, he found himself sidelined from the team for reasons known only to the management and selectors.

“Yes, I asked him. During the 2008 Australia series, Mahi bhai’s statement came out in the media that Irfan wasn’t bowling well. So I thought I had bowled well throughout the series, so I went and asked Mahi bhai about this. Sometimes, the statements are twisted in the media, so I also wanted to clarify. So Mahi bhai said, ‘no Irfan, there is nothing like this, everything’s going as per plans.’ When you get a reply like this, then you believe that okay, you do what you can. Also if you keep asking for explanations again and again after that, you hurt your self-respect,” Pathan said in an interview with SportsTak in 2020.

Pathan further mentioned that he was not the kind of player who would try to please someone through off-field gestures, adding that he never believed in indulging in activities such as setting up hookah in a teammate’s room to earn favour.

“I don’t have a habit of setting up hookah in someone’s room or talking about this. Everyone knows. Sometimes if you don’t speak about it, it’s better. A cricketer’s job is to perform on the field and that is what I used to focus on,” Pathan added.

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