Former Team India cricketer and current J&K mentor Irfan Pathan has revealed that his father didn’t like the comment made by former Pakistan skipper and Coach Javed Miandad about him during India’s tour of Pakistan in 2003-04.
Javex Miandad, who was the coach of Pakistan then, had said that bowlers like Pathan can be found on any street in Pakistan.
“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, “Pathan said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
“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.’ 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,” Irfan Pathan added.
This was the first time India was touring Pakistan after Kargil war had suspended cricketing ties between the two nations. The Sourav Ganguly-led side displayed fantastic performance throughout the series winning the Tests 2-1 and the ODIs 3-2.
Reacting on his experience of touring Pakistan for the first time, Irfan said he was really pleased with the hospitality of the neighbours.