Pakistan cricketers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Yasir Shah, Imran Khan, Mohammad Musa and Naseem Shah treated an Indian taxi driver to dinner after he refused to take money from the players for a ride he gave them in Brisbane, Australia.
The heartwarming story became an internet sensation after ABC radio presenter Alison Mitchell narrated the story to former Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson. The video of Mitchell narrating the incident went viral after ABC Grandstand shared it on Twitter.
Mitchell was driven to the Gabba Stadium in Brisbane by the same cabbie, who narrated the incident to her. The five Pakistani players were on their way to an Indian restaurant from their hotel in Brisbane when they met the cab driver.
“A couple of days ago, he was called to the Pakistan team hotel. He picked up five of the Pakistan players. And he was a cricket fan; he was delighted to have members of the Pakistan team on his taxi. They wanted to go to an Indian restaurant for a meal,” Mitchell said.
����️�� The heartwearming story of the Indian taxi driver and five @TheRealPCB players.❤️
����@AlisonMitchell tells Mitchell Johnson about it on Commentator Cam. ����️ #AUSvPAK
Listen live ���� ABC Radio / Grandstand digital / ABC Listen app — https://t.co/dhH8gmo5FZ pic.twitter.com/qdwsK83F7X
— ABC Grandstand (@abcgrandstand) November 24, 2019
Upon reaching the destination, the cabbie refused to charge the players for the ride. Touched by the gesture, the players invited the driver for dinner.
He also showed pictures from the dinner to Mitchell. “He was showing us the photograph on his phone of him sitting at the table in the restaurant with five members of the Pakistan cricket team,” Mitchell added.
Meanwhile, after the photo of the cab driver with the cricketers went viral, cricketer Yasir Shah came out to talk about the story. On their first day there, they were not aware of any Indian/Pakistani restaurants in Brisbane. So they had stepped out to call a taxi.
“The driver was a ‘Paaji’ from India. We told him to take us to a nice restaurant. He recognised us and we chitchatted in Urdu about cricket,” Yasir said in a video shared by Pakistan Cricket Board on Twitter.
Yasir Shah on the incident which brought Pakistani cricketers and taxi driver together on dinner table
�� https://t.co/L47fv0CyCZ @Shah64Y pic.twitter.com/nLVxZNPPQc
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) November 26, 2019
“He refused to take the fare from us when we reached the restaurant. I told him, ‘You either have to take the fare or have dinner with us.’ So he agreed for the dinner,” Yasir added.
The players are currently touring Australia for the T20I and Test series. Australia defeated Pakistan in the first Test match. The second Test match of the series will begin on November 29.
