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NEW DELHI: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has revisited a little-known heated exchange with Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara during the 2005 Test in Delhi, revealing how an argument over a changed ball escalated into personal sledging before the two eventually put the incident behind them and became friends.Pathan was at the centre of a memorable India innings at the Feroz Shah Kotla, scoring 93 after being sent up the order. But alongside his attacking knock, which included two sixes off Muttiah Muralitharan, came a confrontation with Sangakkara that the former India all-rounder remembered years later.Speaking on JioHotstar’s ‘Cheeky Singles’ programme, Pathan explained that the tension had its roots in the Sri Lankan team’s frustration over the ball used during their innings.
‘You guys cheat’: How the argument started
“There was a Test match in Delhi. I opened and made 93. After the first innings, when we went to bowl, the box of balls had changed, or something like that happened, and the Sri Lankan players were not happy. Sangakkara was the most vocal of all. Then, when I went to bat, I had zero idea what had happened; I was asked to open. I hit Muralitharan for two sixes,” Pathan said.The former India all-rounder said Sangakkara became increasingly frustrated as Pathan began taking the attack to Sri Lanka.“If he is getting hit for sixes with the new ball, it means you have derailed the opposition’s planning a bit. Suddenly, Sangakkara started saying, ‘You guys cheat, your parents teach you all this and blah blah.’ He went personal, and I also answered back. He started it,” he added.The exchange, according to Pathan, went beyond the usual competitive sledging of a Test match, with the argument becoming personal.The episode could easily have left a lasting bitterness between the two cricketers. Instead, their paths crossed again away from international cricket, when both became part of the Kings XI Punjab setup in the IPL.
From heated rivals to good friends
Pathan admitted that the situation was awkward when he realised he would be sharing a dressing room with Sangakkara.“After the auction, I saw I would be playing with Sangakkara at Punjab. Now I was eating with his family, and I did not know what to do. I went and told him sorry. He also apologised, and then we became good friends. Emotions are high, and you always make mistakes. It matters how maturely you handle things,” he remembered.The incident underlined how quickly emotions can boil over in cricket, particularly when a match is finely balanced and players are trying to unsettle one another. Pathan’s account shows that while words exchanged in the heat of competition can cross a line, they do not necessarily have to define the relationship between two players.
