Iqbal Abdullah Reveals Maulvi Was Allowed in the Uttarakhand Dressing Room by Team Manager, Says ‘Wasim Jaffer Never Tied to Communalise The Team’

The Wasim Jaffer controversy is taking a new turn every day. Now, Iqbal Abdullah has spoken up about the allegations on the KXIP coach. In an interview with a newspaper, Abdullah said that it was the manager who allowed the maulvi inside the dressing room and not Jaffer. Abdullah further said that he did not try to communalise the team and further said that he is pained to see Jaffer go through all this.  While speaking about allowing the maulvi to step into the dressing room, Iqbal revealed that he had first sought permission from Jaffer to call the maulvi since Friday. Irfan Pathan Tweets in Favour of Wasim Jaffer, Says, ‘Unfortunate That You Have To Explain This’.

“I first asked Wasim bhai if I could call the maulvi for prayers. He told me to get permission from the team manager. I spoke to manager Navneet Mishra and he said, ‘koi nahi Iqbal, prayer-dharm first,” he said. Iqbal further emphasised had the bio bubble been in place, the manager should have told him and he would not have called the maulvi. He further said that Wasim Jaffer asked the team to stick to the slogan which had Uttarkhand in it. " We had some 50 slogans during the three-month camp. Wasim bhai said we should stick to one slogan for the team like ‘Go Uttarakhand’ or ‘Let’s play, Uttarakhand’. As ‘Let’s play, Uttarakhand’ is a bit long, everyone decided to stick to ‘Go Uttarakhand’,” Abdullah said.

Wasim Jaffer had found himself in a middle of a controversy after the Uttarkhand team manager blamed the former Indian Test opener of spreading communal bias. It was said that the KXIP batting coach had also allowed the maulvi to enter the dressing room. It was also said that Jaffer wanted Iqbal Abdullah to be the skipper of the team. Post this, Wasim Jaffer stepped down as the coach of the team and distanced himself from these allegations and had posted a tweet on social media.  In his tweet, he had clarified that it was the CAU who supported Iqbal Abdullah.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 12, 2021 04:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).