When Inzamam-ul-Haq shielded Mohammad Azharuddin’s spouse from an abusive fan

Waqar Younis, the former Pakistan fast bowler, put forth an incident back in 1997 when Inzamam-ul-Haq hit out at a fan, who was abusive to Mohammad Azharuddin’s wife. Cricket ties between India and Pakistan have been in the shambles for quite a few years as the teams only lock horns in tournaments, conducted by the ICC and ACC. But stories of their camaraderie have also surfaced.

Waqar, who made his Test debut alongside Sachin Tendulkar back in 1989, said that people were addressing Inzamam as ‘aaloo aaloo’. Younis stated that Inzamam didn’t lose his calm. However, after a fan from the audience abused Azharuddin’s better-half, Inzamam lashed out at him.

Younis also talked about the strong bonding between India and Pakistan cricketers off the field. The veteran made the revelations while speaking on ‘The Greatest Rivalry’ podcast.

Someone was really being rude to Azza’s wife, says Waqar Younis

“Yes, there was someone calling him ‘aaloo’. But also, what exactly happened [was that] there was someone in the crowd who was not very good to Azharuddin’s wife – I think they were just talking some rubbish – and Inzi being Inzi, he didn’t really like it.

“And as I was mentioning, the friendship off the field between these two teams’ players was outstanding, it was amazing, they had a lot of respect for each other,” Waqar told.

“And what happened [was] because someone was really being rude to Azza’s wife and Inzi just, I don’t know what happened to be very honest, he just decided, he asked, I think Saleem Malik was captain (in reality, Ramiz Raja was the Pakistan skipper), he asked Saleem to move him to that fine-leg third-man region, and that’s where he went.

“And he just asked for the 12th man to bring the bat, and he just gave it to him, and he just ran up the stairs in the scaffolding and brought it down,” Younis added.

For his actions, Inzamam-ul-Haq was being reprimanded and was handed a ban for two matches in ODIs. Inzamam, who’s also a former national chief selector, had to visit the court, but Azharuddin came to his rescue and helped him sort the issue out.

Over the years, India and Pakistan have been involved in some jaw-dropping matches. But due to political tensions, they haven’t taken part in a bilateral series since 2013.