‘Shahid Afridi has eaten dog meat’ – Irfan Pathan recalls heated chat from 2006 Pakistan tour

When the name Irfan Pathan comes up, one of the most memorable memories of the former all-rounder is how he shocked the Pakistani top-order with a hat-trick in the first over of the Karachi Test during the 2006 trip. However, the same tour was notable for Irfan, not only for his excellent periods with the ball, but also for his heated exchanges with famous Pakistani player Shahid Afridi.

During the tour, both teams were on the same flight from Karachi to Lahore. An in-flight verbal fight between the archrivals’ best all-rounders guaranteed that the travel to Lahore would be fraught with tension.

However, Irfan Pathan handled the unpleasant position given at him by Afridi. During a recent interview, the Baroda native explained how the incident occurred.

“During our 2006 tour, we flew from Karachi to Lahore.” Both squads were travelling together. Shahid Afridi appeared and placed his palm on my head, messing up my hair. He enquired, ‘How are you, kid?’ I wondered when he became my father. He acted like a child. I wasn’t chatting to him or saying anything. Following this, Afridi said some negative things to me. “His seat was close to mine,” he explained during an interview with Lallantop.

A few time later, Irfan said that he went up to Abdul Razzaq, another all-rounder from Pakistan and part of the squad on that tour. Irfan asked the kinds of meat available in the city, to which Razzaq replied courteously. The Indian cricketer then took that conversation to a whole different turn, taking a hilarious dig at how Afridi was behaving inside the plane.

“Later, Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq was sitting near me. I asked him what kind of meat is available here. He told me meat of different animals are available. So I asked whether dog meat is available. Hearing me, a surprised Razzaq questioned, ‘Hey Irfan, why are you asking this?’

I replied that he (Afridi) has eaten dog meat, he has been barking for so long. After this, Afridi could not say anything. If he had said anything, I would have said, ‘Look, he is barking more.’ After this, he remained quiet for the entire flight. He understood from this incident that he would not be able to fight me verbally. That is why he never said anything to me again,” the 40-year-old completed.