2 days ago
"You're Smelling Like Indian Curry": Irfan Pathan Reveals Facing Racial Remarks During 2008 Perth Test
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan recently revealed the reason behind his famous 'tongue out' celebration from the 2008 Test against Australia in Perth. Irfan had a great career with India, where he played 169 international matches and scored 2821 runs. Apart from this, he also scalped 293 wickets. He gave many match-winning performances for India and retired as one of the greats in 2012. If he talk about the rivalry, India and Australia share a cut-throat competition with each other and over the years, fans have witnessed a tough fight during their games.
During the 2008, a similar incident took place, which left Irfan fuming. The former all-rounder revealed that he was facing racial remarks from Australian fans while he was fielding at the boundary line.
"When I was fielding at the boundary line, they targeted me by saying things like, 'You have eaten Indian curry, you're smelling like Indian curry.' The Australian crowd try to get under your skin. I didn't change my field position and instead gave them replies," Irfan said during an interview with The Lallantop.
"When I took a wicket, I took my tongue out to indicate that my tongue is very clean and there's no smell. So, that celebration was for the crowd," he added.
For the unversed, India went on to win the Pert Test in 2008 by 72 runs. Irfan was awarded the Player of the Match for his all-round performance. He scored 28 and 26 runs with the bat and also scalped five wickets.
Irfan also narrated the tale of his ouster from the Indian team, recalling how former captain MS Dhoni forced him out of the team in spite of him performing well and winning games for the side.
"It was back in 2009, when we were in New Zealand. Before that, my brother (Yusuf Pathan) and I had won matches in Sri Lanka. The situation in which we had pulled a win - if it had been anyone else in our place, they wouldn't have been dropped for a year. In that match against Sri Lanka, we needed 60 runs from just 27-28 balls, and we won it from there," Irfan told The Lallantop.
"In New Zealand, I was benched for the first match, the second match, and the third match as well. The fourth match was a draw because of rain. I wasn't in the final match either. Then I asked Gary sir why I had been dropped. If there was something I needed to improve, he could tell me, but I wanted to know the reason I was left out," he added.
