After Irfan Pathan‘s hookah swipe at MS Dhoni resurfaced on social media, another video of the former India all-rounder has gone viral. In this clip, however, Irfan has talked about the great bond he had with Dhoni during his playing days. During an interview in 2020, Pathan had revealed the details of a conversation with Dhoni about his performance and future in the team. He had also hinted that Dhoni used to allegedly favour players who would smoke hookah with him in his room.
As the five-year-old interview resurfaced, another statement of Pathan is going viral now. In this clip which is from Pathan’s interaction with Zee News a year ago, he revealed that the trio of Dhoni, Robin Uthappa and Suresh Raina had a great bond with him. He added that the four always used to eat together.
“Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ye teen jo khiladi hote they, na to ye mere bina khana khate they, na to mai inke bina khana khata tha. Itni hamari zabarzast yaari thi jab hum saath mai khelte they (These three players never ate without me, and I never ate without them. That’s how strong our friendship was when we played together),” said Pathan in the video.
Coming to the other viral clip, five years ago, Pathan had spoken about the controversy of his exit from the Indian national team in 2012. He last played international cricket under Dhoni’s captaincy, even taking five wickets in his final ODI. While the exact reasons for his departure remain known only to the selectors, Pathan revealed details in a 2020 interview where he discussed his performance and future with Dhoni.
In the same interview, the former India international also took a sly dig at Dhoni, saying he isn’t someone who sets up hookah in someone’s (Dhoni’s) room to please him.
“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 had told Sports Tak.