‘Whenever I used to play against my brother…’ – Irfan Pathan gets candid about not playing IPL alongside Yusuf Pathan

Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan hosted his first-ever 'Question and Answer' session with fans on his newly launched YouTube channel. The 40-year-old titled the show 'Ask Irfan' and took a few questions that had caught his eye during the course of his show. One fan named Shweta asked the former India player if he regretted not playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with his elder brother Yusuf Pathan. (From 3:10 onwards). 

Watch the video here:

Replying to the fan, Irfan said, “The question you have asked is pretty close to my heart. Whenever I used to play against my brother, I used to feel very bad. I always had this wish that I would get to play the IPL with my older brother, but that wish was never fulfilled. But since my retirement, we have been playing in the same team for various leagues and tournaments we have been part of.”

The 40-year-old went onto say, “In the last five years, we have played so many retired player leagues together, we have won everything together. The recent Masters League led by Sachin Tendulkar, we won it together. Apart from this, we have played other tournaments as well, where we reached the finals in some, and went onto win the others.”

‘Enjoy close ties with each other’ – Irfan Pathan on his bond with elder brother Yusuf

“We also won a tournament under the captaincy of Yuvraj Singh, so the desire that both brothers play together in the IPL wasn’t fulfilled. We did play Ranji Trophy together, played for India together, and also the recent retired leagues across the world, we have been together. When you speak about the bonding, we are tight knit and enjoy close ties. We also fight, and whenever we fight, we don’t let third parties get involved in it” further added Irfan Pathan. 

The veteran former India star also revealed the amount of respect he has for his older sibling. Irfan Pathan said, “If I have a fight with him, we make sure that we sort it out. Speaking about respect, he is my elder brother and a father like figure in my life. He has that stature in my life, we also play around and crack jokes, despite me being younger, he understands me. I am younger and more naughtier (than Yusuf). Best thing about my brother is that he is a large-hearted personality.”