Hyderabad: After former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq said that Indian Cricketer and Rajya Sabha Member Harabhajan Singh came close to converting to Islam from Sikhism, the former Indian spinner has asked what Pakistani cricketer he was on, to say such things.
Singh lashed out at Haq who has recently stepped down as the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board's selection committee was sharing his experience with the Indian team player during one of the Men in Blue tours to Pakistan.
The video, which has gone viral since it has been posted in social media X, has drawn the attention of the Indian cricketer, who issued a curt response to the claims made by Haq in the video.
Inazamam, speaking to the audience in the video, said the Indian Parliamentarian attended the preaching of Maulana Tariq Jameel, who comes to offer Namaz with Pakistan players.
He claimed that Indian players like Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan and Mohammad Kaif would join the Pakistan players during namaz. According to him, the Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh joined the Indian Muslim players to attend the religious gathering led by Maulana Tariq Jameel.
Harbhajan was awe-struck by Jameel's preaching, he said in the video. "My heart says I want to follow his words but seeing your condition I would stop," Inzamam quoted Harbhajan as saying, which had the audience in splits.
Harbhajan took exception to the statements made by Inzamam. He quote posted the video and asserted that he is a proud Indian and a proud Sikh. "Yeh kon sa nasha pee kar baat kar raha hai? (What are you on to say such things?).
"I am a proud Indian and proud Sikh..yeh Bakwaas log kuch bi bakte hai (These nonsense people can talk anything)."
Haq said he worked along with Saqlain Mushtaq and even tried to initiate players into Islam when they played for an English club.
Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf (Yousuf Youhana), a born Christian, who was just the 4th Christian to play for Pakistan, had converted to Islam. Yousuf tried to convert Brian Lara to Islam during a test match in Karachi, Inzamam said during the speech, shared by an X user who goes by the name Sensei Kraken Zero.
In the work front, Haq stepped down as Pakistan Cricket Board chief selector, on October 30.
"Pakistan Cricket Board has accepted Inzamam-ul-Haq's resignation as the chairman of the national men's selection committee and junior selection committee and will announce his replacement in due course," PCB had said in a statement.
"Inzamam-ul-Haq voluntarily stepped down from his position on 30 October in order to offer the PCB the opportunity to conduct a transparent inquiry about the conflict of interest allegations."
