Irfan Pathan (Photo Source: Irfan Pathan/Instagram)
Former India international Irfan Pathan shared a hilarious story featuring Robin Uthappa from the T20 World Cup 2007. In the inaugural edition of the marquee competition, the match between India versus Pakistan went down the wire, in which, the contest was decided in a bowl-out competition after it finished on level terms.
Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa bowled for India while Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi took up the responsibility for Pakistan. Legendary batter Sehwag started the proceedings as he hit the target while Pakistan pacer Arafat missed it. In the second round, Harbhajan hit the bull’s eye while Gul failed to hit the target.
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In the third round, Uthappa stepped up for India and got the job done while Afridi missed it and with that, India won the game 3-0. 17 years later, Irfan Pathan revealed that it was his turn to bowl but Uthappa snatched the ball and went on for business himself. The 39-year-old mentioned that Uthappa is his friend but he hated him that night.
“Mera turn tha jaana. Robin Uthappa ball cheen ke gaya hai (laughs). Ye mera yaar hai par dushman tha us din. (It was my turn in the bowl-out but Robin Uthappa snatched the ball and went next. He is my friend, but that day he was an enemy (laughs),” Pathan told on Star Sports.
Unko to pata hi nahi tha ki aisa kuch honewala hai: Pathan
Pathan revealed that Pakistan were clueless about the bowl-out. He mentioned that the players did not have any idea about it and were shocked that such things exist in the sport.
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“Unko to pata hi nahi tha ki aisa kuch honewala hai. Vo hakke-bakke reh gaye ki yeh aisa kuch hai bhi. Hum to tayaari kar rahe the. (They (Pakistan) had no clue about what was going to happen after the tie. They were shocked to know that something like bowl-out existed. We had been doing our practice),” Pathan said.