Javed Miandad’s disrespectful comments during 2003 series irked my father, reveals Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan recalled how a disrespectful comment from Javed Miandad, who was the coach of Pakistan during the ‘03/04 tour, infuriated his father, who then stated that he personally wanted to meet the Pakistan coach. Pathan also recalled fond memories of the good hospitality in Pakistan.
Soon after making his debut as a 19-year-old against Australia, Irfan Pathan, in no time, found himself opening the bowling against a strong Pakistan side in the home turf of his arch-rivals. While the left-arm pacer had a natural, god-gifted ability to generate a ludicrous amount of swing with the new ball, during India’s tour of Pakistan in 2003/04, Javed Miandad, who was the then coach of Pakistan, made a controversial remark about the pacer, stating that he could find hundreds of bowlers like Pathan on the streets of Pakistan.
While the comment largely went unnoticed during the series, Pathan has, however, now revealed that Miandad’s comments upset the pacer’s father, who then personally wanted to meet Miandad in the dressing room. The left-arm pacer then narrated the incident between his father and Miandad, where the former almost completely dissed the latter, showing utter disregard to Miandad’s disrespectful comments.
"I remember Javed Miandad saying something like bowlers like Pathan are there in every street of Pakistan. My father, I remember, reading that news, he didn't like it at all. I remember in the last game as well, he came to Pakistan, he came to me and said ‘I want to go to the dressing room of Pakistan and meet Javed Miandad' and I said ‘I don't want you to go there',” Pathan said on Star Sports, reported News18.
"As soon as Miandad saw my father, he stood up and said, ‘no I didn't say anything about your son. My father had a smirk on his face and said, ‘I didn't come here to say anything to you. I wanted to meet you as you were a wonderful player’”.
Eventually, India swept the tour, winning both the ODIs and Tests, but Pathan, who was a 19-year-old back then, recalled the warm reception Indian players received during the tour and expressed his delight over the hospitality that was given to them.
"The food, the cricket the dressing room stories, Sachin paaji asking me to sing a song after winning the series and small little things and the whole team was playing like a unit, it was wonderful.”
Having represented India in 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is, Pathan called time on his cricketing career in January this year. He has, since, taken up the role of an expert/commentator on the Star Sports network while being a mentor to Jammu and Kashmir team.