'It was a shocking moment': Vinod Kambli on Inzamam thrashing an arrogant fan in stands

Vinod Kambli recalled a shocking incident where Inzamam-ul-Haq had thrashed an arrogant fan in the stands during a bilateral ODI series between arch-rivals India and Pakistan that was held in Toronto back in 1997. 

'It was a shocking moment': Vinod Kambli

“In fact, that incident, because we were sitting in the dressing room and our team was batting, the Indian team was batting, we were sitting there in the dressing room and then suddenly we saw Inzi just trying to show for a bat,” said Vinod Kambli while interacting on The Greatest Rivalry podcast.

“He was just pointing out to a bat, so I saw the 12th man taking the bat, and passing by his dressing room and passing our dressing room too and went from there straight to Inzi. The entire incident was like, you were literally shocked. It was a shocking moment for all of us,” the former left-handed batsman added.

'What really happened was': Waqar Younis

During an earlier interview on the same platform, Pakistani pace legend Waqar Younis had said that Inzamam did not get angry after he was called 'Aaloo' (Potato) by the fan but it was because he had spoken ill about Azharuddin's wife (possibly model-actress Sangeeta Bijlani who was his better half back then).

“Yes, there was someone calling him ‘Aaloo’. But also, what exactly happened 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,” said Younis.

“And what happened 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 Salim Malik was captain he asked Salim 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”, the pace legend added.

When Inzamam manhandled a fan in the stands

It has so happened that during the second ODI, the fan was hurling abuses at many players, and apparently the 1992 World Cup winner happened to be one of them. When Inzy was stationed at the boundary, the abuses did not stop as the mind games continued and that is when the prolific batsman decided that enough was enough and all of a sudden, he charges into the stands and starts manhandling that fan. The security officials had to intervene just before things went out of control and luckily, nothing untoward happened. 

READ: Waqar Younis Reveals Why Inzamam Had Thrashed An Arrogant Fan In The Stands In 1997

(Image Courtesy: AP)