‘I said something about his wife’ : Irfan Pathan reveals ‘nasty’ sledging episode with Sangakkara

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Saturday, spoke about an episode with Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara and recalled a sledging incident which took place in Delhi during a Test match.

Irfan said that both the players fired personal salvos at one another and that, they were not too happy with each other.

“I remember one of the stories with (Kumar) Sangakkara. We were playing in Delhi. I scored about 93 in the 2nd innings when (Virender) Sehwag got injured. I was sent up the order. At that time, Sangakkara knew the match was going away from them. (Muttiah) Muralitharan was bowling really well. He was just trying to tell me something very nasty. He said something personal, I said something personal to him. I said something about his wife, he said something about my father and my mother. At that time, we were not happy with each other,” Pathan told Indian cricket’s official broadcaster while announcing his retirement.

Pathan also said that at the age of 27-28, when people start their careers, his one, unfortunately, neared the end.

“People start their career when they are 27-28 and then go on to play till 35. When I was 27, I had taken 301 international wickets, so that was it. That is the only regret I have,” said Pathan, now 35.

Pathan featured in 29 Tests (1105 runs and 100 wickets), 120 ODIs (1544 runs and 173 wickets) and 24 T20 Internationals (172 runs and 28 wickets). Pathan burst onto the scenes with an unbelievable 9 for 16 against Bangladesh in a U-19 match in Pakistan. He was fast-tracked into the Indian side for the Australia tour later that year in 2002. He made his Test debut in the 2nd match and troubled players Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.

(Hindustan Times)