MS Dhoni 'Hookah Memes' Take Over Internet After Irfan Pathan's Revelation

It's been 5 years since Irfan Pathan spoke about the controversy of his exit from the Indian national team in 2012. It was MS Dhoni under whom Irfan last featured in international cricket. In fact, the former India all-rounder had picked 5 wickets in his last-ever ODI for the national team. Only the selectors know the exact reasons behind Irfan's exit from the team. But, in a 2020 interview, Pathan had revealed the details of a conversation he had with MS Dhoni about his performance and future in the team.

In a chat with Sports Tak, Dhoni said: "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."

In the interview, Irfan then took a subtle dig at Dhoni, saying unlike some other players he didn't isn't someone who would go to the former skipper's room and set up 'hookah'.

"I don't have a habit of setting up hookah in someone's room or talking about this. Everyone knows. Sometime,s 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 further said.

The hookah revelation, though old, resurfaced on social media and has since triggered a meme-fest.

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

— unplugged memer (@unpluggedmemer) September 2, 2025

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

— MAHIYANK (@Mahiyank_78) September 3, 2025

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

— MAHIYANK (@Mahiyank_78) 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

— (@Shivayaaah) September 2, 2025

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

— (@Vaiikartana) September 2, 2025

Even former Australia batter George Bailey had revealed in 2018 that Dhoni has the habit of smoking 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," he had said.

Topics mentioned in this article

MS Dhoni Irfan Pathan Cricket