Irfan Pathan Reveals What Led To Him Having A 'Dog Fight' With Shahid Afridi Mid-Flight

Irfan Pathan having a beef with Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi is not new knowledge. However, what is new is the fact that he had a ‘dog fight’ with the former Pakistan captain mid-flight. 

Pathan, while he was on tour of Pakistan with the Indian team in 2005-06, was sitting on a flight alongside the members of both teams, and the flight was going from Lahore to Karachi. 

Explaining what happened, Pathan on the Lallantop show said, “Afridi came and messed up my hair while I was sitting with Abdul Razzaq and said, ‘Yo kiddo, how are you?’ And I replied, ‘Since when did you become my father?’ and that led to him saying nasty words in foul language.”

The former Indian pacer then explained how he used a dog reference to silence the Pakistani all-rounder mid-flight. 

“I turned to Razzaq and asked, ‘Razzaq Bhai, what kind of meat is found here in Pakistan?’ and Razaaq innocently answered, counting all kinds of meat that they serve in Pakistan. And then I said, ‘Don’t they have dog meat in Pakistan somewhere?’ Razzaq was shocked and asked me why I was saying something like that.”

“Then I politely answered, ‘Seems like Afridi had that for dinner last night as he can’t stop barking right now.’ And there was pin-drop silence from Afridi during the entire journey,” revealed the 40-year-old. 

Pathan also said that he had a complaint to register with renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle, as he did not counter Afridi when the latter said that Irfan was fake, and he was the only real Pathan. 

The Baroda-born man, who finished with 2821 runs and 301 wickets in 173 matches across formats for India, also recounted that he has got Afridi out 11 times in all international competitions.