"Fans in Peshawar threw a nail at Irfan" - Aakash Chopra on Pathan's earlier encounter with Pakistani crowd

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan recently revealed that a fan threw a nail towards him that hit him under the eye during a match in Peshawar.

Pathan narrated the incident while being on air during India's 2023 World Cup match against Bangladesh in Pune on Thursday. He recalled that while he could have been severely injured after being hit by a nail, the Indian team didn't make a big fuss about it and continued the game.

Reacting to the same, former opener Aakash Chopra lauded Pathan for keeping the game at the forefront even after such an unfortunate event. The cricketer-turned-commentator wrote on X:

"Didn’t know that fans in Peshawar threw a nail at Irfan, which hit him under the eye. Remember the game getting stopped for a bit bcoz of fan trouble but it’s only today I got to know the exact reason. Well done, @IrfanPathanfor keeping the big-picture in mind. Love you bro."

It is worth mentioning that the Pakistani camp was unhappy with how the crowd treated them during their 2023 World Cup clash against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Men in Green even lodged an official complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC).

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"I could have gotten seriously injured" - Irfan Pathan on being hit by a nail

Narrating the incident, Irfan Pathan stated that he could have sustained a major injury, given that the nail hit him just under his eye.

He pointed out that the match was stopped for a few minutes and that India didn't create a controversy after the incident. The 38-year-old urged Pakistan to also not to complain about the crowd behavior in India during the mega ICC event.

Pathan said on commentary:

"We were playing a game in Peshawar, when a fan threw a nail at me, which struck me under my eye. I could have gotten seriously injured. The match was halted for 10 minutes, but we did not pay any heed to it as we were playing good cricket.

"Pakistan should stop making issues of crowd’s behavior in India. They shouldn’t stretch things over here."

Notably, in a post-match interview after the India-Pakistan match, Pakistan's team director Mickey Arthur expressed his displeasure over the lack of support for Babar Azam and Co. He opined that it looked like a BCCI event.