Irfan Pathan, who recently announced his retirement from international cricket, revealed the moment when he and Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara got involved in a verbal spat which got ugly. The occasion was the 2nd Test of Sri Lanka’s 2005 Tour of India and the venue was Delhi. While batting, he got sledged by Sangakkara, who was keeping wickets in that match. The southpaw wasn’t amused by the comment and gave it back to the wicket-keeper. Irfan Pathan Announces His Retirement From International Cricket. 

The two former players commented on each other's family members with Pathan saying something about the former Sri Lankan skipper’s wife. The incident resulted in a cold rift between the two and things sorted out only when they joined forces for Kings XI Punjab in the inaugural edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2008. Irfan Pathan Retires: Former Cricketer Responds to Brother Yusuf’s Emotional Note.

The former pacer recalled the instance during a chat on Star Sports. "I remember one of the stories with Sangakkara. We were playing in Delhi. I scored about 93 in the 2nd innings when Sehwag got injured. I was sent up the order. At that time, Sangakkara knew the match was going away from them. Muralitharan was bowling really well. He was just trying to tell me something very nasty. He said something personal, I said something personal to him. I said something about his wife, he said something about my father and my mother. At that time, we were not happy with each other," said the all-rounder.

A few years later, however, the two cricketers shared dressing rooms for Kings XI Punjab and sorted things out to become friends. Pathan also disclosed that he used to avoid interactions with Sangakkara’s wife due to his guilt. However, the two finally met one day and Sangakkara himself clarified the incidence.

"After some time, we were playing in the same team for Kings XI Punjab. I remember, for a month, as soon as his wife used to come on the right, I used to go left. One day, Sangakkara came and said, 'you remember this guy, he is the guy who said something about you'. I said sorry. And then Sangakkara explained, I said something first and then only he said something about you. It ended that way. There is no hard feeling and then we became friends," Pathan said.

In that match, Pathan was sent to open the innings in the third innings and the southpaw didn’t fail to deliver. He scored a well-compiled 93 which helped the hosts to clinch the match by 188 runs. So, the former certainly has some mixed memories from that encounter.

Speaking of Pathan, the Baroda-born cricketer scalped 100, 173 and 28 wickets in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively along with 2821 runs at international level in the longest format. Post-retirement, Pathan is seeking to concentrate on domestic cricket and will want to showcase his blitz in those matches too.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 06, 2020 05:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).