Irfan Pathan has wondered out loud on X (former known as Twitter) if it is a “fan war” or a “PR lobby” that is responsible for a turn of phrase he had used in an interview a few years back being taken literally now and going viral on social media. Pathan said that the video has surfaced with a “twisted context” to his statement and also joked about it some other posts on X as well.
The clip in question is from an interview he had given to Sports Tak in May 2020 where he was speaking about him getting dropped from the Indian team in 2008 while MS Dhoni was captain. Pathan says in Hindi in the clip that he doesn’t have a habit of going to someone’s room and setting up their hookah for them, which is what was taken literally and went viral on social media on Wednesday.
“Half decade old video surfacing NOW with a twisted context to the Statement. Fan war? PR lobby?” says Pathan in his tweet on X.
Half decade old video surfacing NOW with a twisted context to the Statement. Fan war? PR lobby?
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 3, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Before he put this post out, Pathan had also joked about the incident in a reply to a fan.
Mein or @msdhoni sath Beth kar pienge;)
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 3, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Pathan was player of the match in the 2007 T20 World Cup final in which India beat Pakistan by five runs and won the title. The tournament was MS Dhoni’s first assignment as India’s captain in any format.
While that marked a return to the spotlight for Pathan, his career never quite hit the highs that it was projected to in his early years with the Indian team under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Pathan played 29 Tests for India in which he took 100 wickets a an average of 32.26 and scored 1105 runs at 31.57. In 120 ODIs, he took 173 wickets at 29.72 and scored 1544 runs at 23.99. He also took 28 wickets in 24 T20Is and scored 172 run in the format at a strike rate of 119.44 and average of 24.57.
