When Javed Miandad promised to smash Dilip Doshi to his hotel room

Former Pakistan batsman Javed Miandad was always a fiery customer, especially when he was playing against India. Javed Miandad’s battles with the Indian cricket team have been legendary and the 1983 series in India was not different.

Former India left-arm spinner Dilip Doshi recounted one such incident from the first Test between India and Pakistan in Bangalore in 1983, where Javed Miandad wanted to go after the Indian spinner.

“Basically you got to understand that Javed has this street fighting attitude, a truly great batsman, one of the best I’ve bowled to, I really respect him as an opponent,” Dilip Doshi said in a YouTube interview to fellow left-arm spinner Murali Kartik.

“He’s a good friend as well, I love him off the field but once he got on the field, it was like a change of character,” said Dilip Doshi added.

Dilip Doshi, who spent most of his career in the shadow of left-arm spin bowling legend Bishan Singh Bedi, turned out in 33 Tests and 15 ODIs for India. In Test cricket, Dilip Doshi managed to pick up 114 wickets at an average of 30.71.

“He (Javed Miandad) loved room outside the off stump. My style of bowling is bowling at the stumps. I restricted his favourite shots, if he had to carry on, he would have had to take risks,” Dilip Doshi said explaining his style of bowling in the 1983 series.

“Sometimes he wasn’t willing to do that, it would frustrate him and the only way he would try to get you off your concentration was to create some sense of irritability and he was good at that, he has done with Kiran More, he did it with Dennis Lillee and he has done it many more times with me. So he would tell the close-in fielders something to pass on the message to me or walk across after the ball is bowled and he would say something,” the 72-year-old said.

Javed Miandad is considered one of Pakistan's greatest ever batsmen

Javed Miandad enjoyed a phenomenal career with Pakistan, playing 124 Tests and 234 ODIs. He managed to score 8832 Test runs at a brilliant average of 52.57 with 23 hundreds.

“That day what he was trying to do in Bangalore on my recall Test was trying to tell me ‘What’s your room number? I wanna hit the ball there.’ It became a legendary thing, many people have repeated that, with some added spices but it’s fine, it was all in good banter,” Dilip Doshi recalled.

When asked by Murali Kartik whether Javed Miandad was actually able to hit him in that match, Dilip Doshi said that the Pakistan batsman struggled.

“No, he struggled, he couldn’t hit me. He made 98 and got out,” said Dilip Doshi, recalling the Bangalore Test which incidentally was also the last of his career.