‘I don’t have a habit of setting up hookah in someone’s room…’: Former Indian cricketer digs at MS Dhoni

Former Indian and one of the best all-rounder in the history of cricket. Irfan Pathan was known for his epic performances. He took a 5-wicket haul in his last ODI. However, he disappeared from international cricket in 2012.

However, this thing is still unclear and known only to the selectors and team management. Most people believes that MS Dhoni did not handle his situation properly.

In 2020, Irfan revealed some personal conversations he had with Dhoni about his place in the team. Now, a clip from that old interview, recorded five years ago, has resurfaced and gone viral on social media.

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In an interview with SportsTak, Irfan Pathan shared that he once spoke to MS Dhoni in 2008 after hearing media reports claiming the skipper wasn’t happy with his bowling. When Irfan asked Dhoni about it directly, the captain denied any such concerns and assured him there was no issue with his performance.

“Yes, I asked him. During the 2008 Australia series, Mahi bhai’s statement came out in the media that Irfan wasn’t bowling well. So I thought I had bowled well throughout the series, so I went and asked Mahi bhai about this. Sometimes, the statements are twisted in the media, so I also wanted to clarify. So Mahi bhai said, ‘no Irfan, there is nothing like this, everything’s going as per plans.’ When you get a reply like this, then you believe that okay, you do what you can. Also if you keep asking for explanations again and again after that, you hurt your self-respect,” he said in the interview.

The former India cricketer took a subtle dig at MS Dhoni, saying he’s not the kind of person who would try to win favor by doing things like setting up a hookah in Dhoni’s room.

”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,” he further said.