'He is Classless': Former Pakistan player supports Irfan Pathan, blasts Shahid Afridi

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Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has wholeheartedly supported Irfan Pathan who revealed his altercations with Shahid Afridi.

Irfan Pathan has spoken openly about his intense rivalry with Shahid Afridi, both on and off the cricket field. Pathan dismissed Afridi 11 times in international cricket, including a notable golden duck in the 2007 T20 World Cup final. However, their rivalry extended beyond cricket and became quite personal.

Pathan revealed that Afridi once called him a "fake Pathan," which he took as a personal insult not just to himself but also to his family. This motivated Pathan to prove Afridi wrong repeatedly by dismissing him in crucial matches. In a recent interview with the Lallantop, Pathan revealed the incidents which happened between him and Afridi.

One memorable off-field incident occurred during India's 2006 tour of Pakistan when both teams were on a flight from Karachi to Lahore. Afridi approached Pathan, messed up his hair, and called him "kid," implying a taunt. Pathan responded sharply by asking, "Since when have you become my father?"

Afridi then used abusive words, but Pathan shut him down verbally by sarcastically involving another Pakistani teammate about "dog meat," implying Afridi "has eaten dog meat and has been barking for a long time." After this, Afridi stayed quiet for the rest of the flight.

Pathan has described Afridi as a "badtameez aadmi" (ill-mannered man) and claimed Afridi lacked class and decency, a view supported by Afridi's ex-teammate Danish Kaneria.

Kaneria cited a video of Pathan and supported the former India all-rounder, thus exposing the true nature of Afridi, labelling him as classless.

"Irfan bhai, you're absolutely right. He always resorts to personal attacks-be it on someone's family or their religion. Class and decency clearly aren't his strengths,"Kaneria wrote on X.

The former Pakistan spinner was the last non-muslim to play international cricket and he was often targeted and discriminated for being Hindu, and Afridi was often the main instigator behind it.