World Cup 2019: Tarek Fatah mocks Inzamam assessing pitch; calls him ‘Mullah’

For Pakistani-born Canadian public figure Tarek Fatah, bashing Pakistan is not something new. Before the beginning of the cricket World Cup, he had mercilessly mocked Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed for wearing the country’s national dress during a captains’ meeting with the British Queen. And now, the 69-year-old has taken a strong dig at chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq, one of the best batsmen Pakistan have produced.

Fatah on Saturday shared a picture on Twitter showing Sarfaraz Ahmed, Inzamam and head coach Mickey Arthur. The trio was having a close look at the pitch at Old Trafford where the Men in Green will meet their arch-rivals India. Fatah mocked the scenario saying only Pakistan could produce such instances where a “Mullah” blesses the pitch ahead of the big clash.

The dig was clearly at Inzamam who now dons a beard and cap and wore shalwar kamiz in the photo. Fatah had also mocked Sarfaraz for sporting a shalwar-kamiz during the meeting with the queen and even said that it was surprising that the captain had not appeared in a lungi-banyan-topi.

The @CricketWcup2019 witnesses a bizarre spectacle only Pakistanis can offer. Capt. @SarfarazA_54 Ahmed brings out their 13th Man, a Mullah to bless the pitch for tomorrow’s match against India. Thank you @Sachin_anshu06 for sharing this gem. #INDvsPAK #PAKvsIND #WorldCup2019 pic.twitter.com/MtpAngKDun

— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) June 15, 2019

It is not known whether Fatah didn’t recognise the former Pakistan captain in his new avatar and called him a “Mullah”. But the fans were clearly not impressed with such a take and slammed the veteran for talking about the former cricketer in an insulting tone. It may be noted here that Inzamam had played a key role in the semi-final of the 1992 World Cup against New Zealand that Pakistan had won and eventually gone on to win the trophy under the leadership of Imran Khan, the country’s current prime minister.

For Inzamam, India-Pakistan game is ‘final’ before final

Inzamam, who has scored 20,000 international runs for Pakistan with 35 centuries across formats, is with the national side in this World Cup. He said on the eve of the big clash that the game between India and Pakistan is a “final” before the final. He downplayed the fact that India have beaten Pakistan in all World Cup matches so far saying past performances do not matter when the two arch-rivals take on each other.

Inzamam led Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup but the two teams didn’t meet each other in that edition as both had crashed out in the first round.