MS Dhoni's Hookah Habit Sparks Meme Fest After Irfan Pathan's Reveal

It’s been five years since Irfan Pathan spoke openly about the controversy around his exit from the Indian national team in 2012. At that time, MS Dhoni was the captain, and Irfan played his last international game under his leadership. Interestingly, in that final ODI, Irfan delivered a stellar performance, picking up five wickets.

Despite that, the real reasons for his sudden exclusion have never been revealed – only the selectors truly know the story. But in a 2020 interview, IrfanPathan shed some light on a private conversation he once had with MS Dhoni about his form and future in the team.

The Conversation Between Irfan Pathan and MS Dhoni

In a candid conversation with a leading media, Irfan Pathan recalled: “Yes, I asked him. During the 2008 Australia series, Mahi bhai’s statement came out in the media that Irfan wasn’t bowling well. So I thought I had bowled well throughout the series, so I went and asked Mahi bhai about this. Sometimes, the statements are twisted in the media, so I also wanted to clarify.@

“So Mahi bhai said, ‘no Irfan, there is nothing like this, everything’s going as per plans.’ When you get a reply like this, then you believe that okay, you do what you can. Also if you keep asking for explanations again and again after that, you hurt your self-respect.”

The Subtle Dig at MS Dhoni

During that same interview, Irfan didn’t shy away from making a subtle remark, hinting at the culture in the dressing room.

“I don’t have a habit of setting up hookah in someone’s room or talking about this. Everyone knows. Sometimes, if you don’t speak about it, it’s better. A cricketer’s job is to perform on the field and that is what I used to focus on,” he said.

The “Hookah” Talk Resurfaces

That hookah comment, although made years ago, recently resurfaced on social media and quickly triggered a wave of memes.

Interestingly, back in 2018, former Australian cricketer George Bailey had also talked about Dhoni’s fondness for hookah.

“He likes smoking a bit of the sheesha or the hookah. So, he quite often would set that up in his room, and it was very much open-door policy. You would go in and quite often find a lot of younger players there,” Bailey had said.

Hilarious Memes on Hookah

Meanwhile, as soon as the interview went viral on the internet, social media was flooded with hilarious memes and jokes from the fans. Check out the some of the best memes we found on the internet:

Players who set up hookah for MS Dhoni. pic.twitter.com/OH4Hps2lpI

— 𐒡υ८Һί੮Һ (@Vaiikartana) September 2, 2025

Sacked BCCI selectors at 31

Forced IPL to change rules at 44

Made players and Chokli to serve hookah

I repeat this again no 250m insta bots can give you Aura like ms dhoni 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1xj7oQH3Vj

— 𝙼𝚛.𝚅𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚊™ (@Shivayaaah) September 2, 2025

Dhoni after dropping players who refused to set up hookah for him.
pic.twitter.com/1XF6toGfe9

— MAHIYANK™ (@Mahiyank_78) September 2, 2025

Kohli used to set-up hookah for Dhoni 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/DguRVajpRV

— MAHIYANK™ (@Mahiyank_78) September 3, 2025

Ambati Rayudu carefully burning a coal and mixing blueberry flavour hookah for Ms dhoni pic.twitter.com/gIXtVd7iFw

— unplugged memer (@unpluggedmemer) September 2, 2025