‘I had blurred my face out of choice’ – Irfan Pathan’s wife Safa Baig shields her husband over picture controversy

Irfan Pathan, the former Indian cricketer, has received a lot of flak, time and again, for allegedly blurring out his wife Safa Baig’s face from pictures. Recently, a photo, where Safa can be seen standing beside him with Imran, their son, riding on his father’s shoulder, did the rounds. In the photograph, Safa’s face was blurred due to which the netizens hurled severe criticism at the retired all-rounder.

Later, Irfan dropped a tweet saying he’s a “mate” of his wife and not “master”. In the meantime, amidst all sorts of chaos, the 28-year-old Safa, who’s also a former model, stated that it was her, who blurred the picture and her actions were “out of choice”. She was clear-cut in saying that Pathan had “nothing to do” with the same.

I am a very private person and I never like to be the centre of attraction: Irfan Pathan’s wife

“I had created an Instagram account for Imran and I post stuff there so that he can look back at some lovely memories once he grows up. I handle this account and for this particular photograph, I had blurred my face out of choice. It was completely my decision and Irfan had absolutely nothing to do with it,” Safa told The Times of India (TOI).

“I never thought that posting a harmless family photograph would create a needless controversy like this. I am a very private person and I never like to be the centre of attraction. Even when Irfan gets papped, I immediately move away,” she stated.

On the netizens accusing Irfan of being an “oppressive person”, Safa went down the memory lane to the time when she moved to India from his birthplace, Saudi Arabia. Safa mentioned how Pathan backed her at the passport office for not “using his surname” after they tied the knots back in February 2016.

Irfan’s spouse, also, didn’t mince any words in saying that cyber-bullying isn’t acceptable by any stretch of the imagination.

“This is 2021 and people need to be more accepting towards those who are different from their idea of an ideal human being. Be it dressing up or choosing not to show one’s face, everyone has the right to make a choice and cyber-bullying is just unacceptable,” Safa added.