When Robin Uthappa called Ifran Pathan his wife!

Uthappa and Irfan share a close friendship

Robin Uthappa (left) and Irfan Pathan. (Twitter: @robbieuthappa)

 

 

New Delhi: Modern-day cricketers are continuously on the move. They live out of a suitcase, literally. As they spend most of the time playing cricket, they are bound to share a close friendship with each other.

Robin Uthappa and Irfan Pathan are two such players who are very close to each other despite not meeting regularly as they are not part of the national team anymore. They don’t even play for the same state in domestic cricket. Nor do they represent the same franchisee in the IPL.

The duo first played together in 2008 during the Asia Cup and their friendship clicked immediately. Since then, Uthappa and Irfan are best buddies. In fact, they finalize their marriage dates -- both of them got married recently -- after discussing with each other.

Uthappa revealed about his camaraderie with Irfan recently in Vikram Sathaye’s candid chat show — What the Duck.

“The discussion was, okay, hey, I’m getting married now. So, he’s like, yes. But even I am planning to get married. I said, listen you are one of the best men in the marriage, so please don’t get married at the same time. So, I need you to be here and I’ll be there as well. So, make sure we plan it correctly. And then we discussed it and he pushed the dates a little ahead because I had decided my date and I told him that, you know, this is the date that I’m getting married, so he pushed it a little ahead,” Uthappa said.

They are close to such an extent that friends and teammates jokingly call them as husband and wife.

“We’re so close, so much so that you know, when we were playing together and whenever we’re together, we considered ourselves as husband and wife and that’s what people have called us.”

Sathaye then asked the 30-year-old Karnataka batsman to share some funny incidents between the two, to which Uthappa said that there are way too many funny moments and there are some which may even make their wives uncomfortable.

“We were playing Asia Cup in Pakistan in 2008. And Yusuf was also there and Irfan used to bug me. I think I was sitting out in that game and we were batting and he was just bugging me. So, every time I went close to food he’d bug me. And he’d keep teasing me how I was overweight and keep bugging me, picking on me. And that one day, I lost the plot. And I abused him. He just looked at me like with a stone cold look …. And then he shut down. He didn’t talk to me. So, I was also upset. I said, chuck it. I don’t want to talk to him.”

“I met him in the lift. I said, and this time I was like, okay, I’m not gonna go in and talk to him. Give in and all that. So, I bumped into him in the lift. And sure enough, I said, morning. I didn’t even say bro or anything. I just said morning. And then he did not say anything. And I was like, I just kept quiet and the lift was going down to the gym, I turned and said, what is your problem? Like, what is your problem in life? And then he burst out laughing. I said, what are you laughing about? He’s like I’m just pulling your leg.”

Uthappa then shouted and said, “For four days? Who does that crap? For four days you pull my leg?”