"Abey, kya kaisa Pathan hai?" - Former India cricketer revisits incident about scoring half-century after sustaining face injury

Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan narrated an incident when an injury left him needing 15 stitches on his left cheek. The 40-year-old said that while playing for Baroda in an Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy match against Mumbai, he was hit on the left cheek by a Paul Valthaty delivery, which forced him to leave the field.

Pathan revealed how a comment from his coach Mahdi Shaikh fired him up to walk out to bat again at the fall of a wicket. He told former National Cricket Academy (NCA) physio Ashish Kaushik on 'Haal Chaal Aur Sawaal' YouTube channel:

"In Baroda, there was an Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy match against Mumbai. Paul Valthaty has played with me in junior cricket and the IPL. He was a batter, but he bowled medium pace as well. He wasn't that quick, and in those days, I didn't like wearing the helmet much because it would blur my vision. I was batting without a helmet against medium pace. He bowled me a bouncer and I, being a left-handed batter, could have been hit on the right cheek. But the bowl came slowly, and I turned, and it hit me on the left cheek. The minute there was a cut, I felt a bit dizzy, and when I looked down, there were droplets of blood.

"The umpires and the referee told me to head back to the dressing room. I went in, and the coach, Mehdi Shaikh, said, 'Abey, kya kaisa Pathan hai? (What kind of a Pathan are you?)' I said don't talk to me like that, I am walking out to bat soon. I was waiting for a wicket to fall, and the physios had put cotton on my face. The bleeding had stopped.

"The wicket fell, I went back in and made 64. I remember some of the Mumbai players were having a laugh when I felt dizzy and was bleeding. I got very angry and was determined to show them. I went after the bowling, and suddenly, they spread the field out. I felt we had the game on our hands and, we won on first innings lead. When we went to the hospital in the evening, I got 15 stitches on my face."

Irfan Pathan recalls why he supports youngsters who have suffered an injury

In the video, Ashish Kaushik narrated an incident where Irfan Pathan brought a young Hardik Pandya to him after he had sustained an injury. Pathan said that the reason behind helping injured youngsters was that he never got guidance on injury-related issues when he was a young cricketer. He added:

"I felt when I was young, I didn't get a lot of support. I felt many times that I was all alone about injury-related issues. There was not a lot of guidance in such matters. So I feel that when a youngster gets injured, that is a vulnerable time for him and if you don't guide him at that stage, he could be broken mentally."

Pathan retired from all forms of cricket in early 2020 after playing for India between 2003 and 2012.