"Honestly, I Was Initially Annoyed By The Chants..." - Iftikhar Ahmed On Being Called As "Chachu" In The Stadium

Updated - 08 May 2023, 04:40 PM

Iftikhar Ahmed (Image Credits: Twitter)

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Pakistan middle-order batter Iftikhar Ahmed opened up about being called “Chachu” by his fans in the stadium, saying that he was annoyed by the nickname for the first time. Iftikhar Ahmed said that he isn’t bothered by his nickname and added that he is currently enjoying it.

Iftikhar Ahmed is known as “Chachu”, which means ‘uncle’ in Urdu. The 32-year-old got the name after Babar Azam used that name for the first time, and people started calling him frequently by that name on social media. Babar Azam’s nickname is “Bobby” and Shadab Khan’s nickname is “Shaddy”.

Not Bothered By It Anymore – Iftikhar Ahmed

Speaking to the media after the fifth ODI in Karachi, Iftikhar Ahmed said that he is enjoying the “Chachu, Chachu” chants from the crowd in the stadium.

“If I tell you honestly, I was initially annoyed by the [Chachu] chants. However, now I enjoy it. I remember fans used to cheer for Shahid Afridi when he used to come to bat,” Iftikhar Ahmed said.

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“Now, they cheer for me similarly, which makes me happy. It is not a bad thing, as it is the crowd’s way of supporting me. I am not bothered by it anymore and actually enjoy them, so I request the fans to keep enjoying,” he added.

Sometimes, I Feel Embarrassed – Babar Azam

During the post-match press conference of the fifth ODI, Babar Azam pointed out that he feels embarrassed when people call him Iftikhar “Chahcha”.

“Sometimes, I feel embarrassed that due to me Iftikhar is now known as ‘Chacha’ but I am happy that people enjoy it. He gave some brilliant performances in T20 cricket and today he took the game deep alone but unfortunately, he didn’t get support from the other end,” Babar Azam said.

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“That is why we gave him a chance in ODIs because he has been playing great cricket for the last five-six months and we were struggling on those numbers so we are getting a lot of help from Iftikhar and Salman Ali Agha,” he added.

Iftikhar Ahmed scored an unbeaten 94 runs off 72 balls while chasing a target of 300 runs. He added a crucial partnership of 97 runs with Agha Salman for the fifth wicket. He kept fighting till the end, despite wickets falling from the other end. The Men in Green were bowled out for 252 runs in 46.1 overs.

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