Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan is widely known for his blunt remarks as a broadcaster and an expert. It has previously landed him in trouble including being removed from the commentary panel for the Indian Premier League 2025.
Over the past few days, the southpaw again found himself weathering the storm after a clip from one of his old interviews went viral, in which he spoke about MS Dhoni smoking hookah.
In the interview, the former cricketer also took a slight dig at the then captain, suggesting that he might have favored people who would set up a hookah and accompany him in smoking.
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Notably, in response to receiving hate from trolls online, Pathan chose sarcasm while replying to a fan who took a dig at him on one of his recent tweets.
MS Dhoni and I will smoke together: Irfan Pathan responds to a fan comment
As the video spread like wildfire, the 40-year-old also expressed his displeasure with things being taken out of context and felt it could possibly be a result of PR.
On Wednesday, September 3, Mohammed Shami celebrated his 35th birthday. Pathan tweeted to wish him a comeback in the Indian side.
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A fan decided to take an out-of-context dig at Pathan and wrote about the hookah comments, "Pathan bhai hookey ka kya hua??? [What happened about the hookah?]" he asked.
Pathan held firm on his stance about Dhoni smoking hookah and funnily responded that he would smoke it with the former skipper.
Pathan bhai woh hookey ka kya hua???
— Akshat (@Akshatgoel1408) September 3, 2025
Mein or @msdhoni sath Beth kar pienge;)
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 3, 2025
The all-rounder, who represented India in 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is played his final international match in October 2012 at the age of 28, which came as a surprise for everyone as he was touted to end as one of the finest all-rounders in India after Kapil Dev.
He finished his career with 2821 runs, with a Test century and 11 fifties across formats and scalped 100 Test wickets, 173 ODI wickets and 28 T20I wickets.
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He continues to feature in legends leagues alongside the likes of Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh, among the prominent names.