Watch: Irfan Pathan shares exciting stories about birthday boy Yusuf

Indian all–rounder Yusuf Pathan today celebrated his 34th  birthday. Ruthless on the field and affable off the field, Pathan generally stays away from the media glare and prefers spending time with his young family. It’s not very often that we see him speaking him in interviews.

But, his younger brother Irfan Pathan is opposite to him in that matter and is quite open to speaking in front of cameras. In a recent interview, the junior Pathan opened up about some of the childhood memories he shares with his older brother Yusuf.

“Growing up with Yusuf bhai was fantastic. I have learnt many things from him, We fought, we made up like normal brothers. It’s natural when two siblings grow up together. Obviously as you grow and become mature, you stop fighting but we do argue even now. Both are bit different from each other.

The cricket-mad duo’s childhood revolved around cricket. They would often decide to play in Masjid if unable to find a place to play cricket. Irfan shares one amusing story from their early playing days.

“There was a story while growing up, that the Masjid in our locality had a genie on the second floor. Due to this myth, the spacious area would remain empty most of time as no one would go there.”

“But, for us that empty spacious was an opportunity to play cricket as normally the ground floor would be crowded due to prayers and other reasons. So we had this spacious room where no one would wander to play cricket. The thought of that genie would linger in our minds but playing cricket was bigger priority and we would spend hours playing there.”

Both Irfan and Yusuf are poles apart in terms of playing styles. While Yusuf is an aggressive all-rounder who bowls off-spin, Irfan is a seam bowler and a more patient batsman. It was a proud moment for the Pathan family when Yusuf made his debut for India in 2008 four years after Irfan made his debut. Irfan describes how both the brothers climbed the success ladder together to eventually play for India together.

“We both joined the Baroda Sports Club together and fortunately were able to play at all age group levels together before playing alongside in the Indian team. We were quite fortunate to have played for India together. It was a proud moment for our parents. They put in a lot of hard work behind our success. My father worked in Masjid and factories, spending 14-15 hours to support us.”

Watch: Irfan Pathan shares an exciting couple of stories about birthday boy Yusuf