“Kafi Der Se Bhaunk Raha” – When Irfan Pathan Silenced Shahid Afridi With a Savage One-Liner in 2006

Shahid Afridi has always been known for his fiery remarks, both during and after his playing days. But this time, it was a young Irfan Pathan who got the better of the former Pakistan captain. Pathan recently opened up about a mid-air spat from India’s 2006 tour of Pakistan.

The incident happened during a flight from Karachi to Lahore after the third Test. Afridi, already a senior player, decided to tease Pathan by messing with his hair and calling him “kid”. Pathan said he stayed calm at first but Afridi’s words became unpleasant.

“I was neither talking to him nor saying anything. After this, Afridi said some bad things to me. His seat was near mine,” Pathan recalled in an interview with Lallantop.

Instead of reacting directly, Pathan came up with a sharp response. He asked Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, who was sitting nearby, what kinds of meat were available in the country.

When Razzaq listed them, Pathan asked if dog meat was also sold. Surprised, Razzaq questioned why. Pathan’s reply was a cutting jibe:

“Because Afridi has eaten dog meat, he has been barking for so long.” The remark left Afridi speechless, and according to Pathan, he never said anything to him again after that.

Pathan’s unforgettable hat-trick in Karachi

The 2006 Karachi Test is also remembered for Pathan’s remarkable feat with the ball. Even though Pakistan won the game by 341 runs, Pathan etched his name in history by becoming the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the opening over of a Test match.

He dismissed Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf in quick succession, all within the first six deliveries of the match. Pathan was only the second Indian to claim a Test hat-trick after Chetan Sharma.

For a cricketer who had played just about 20 Tests since debuting in 2003, that over turned him into a global name. And as this story with Afridi shows, he had as much bite off the field as he did with the ball in hand.