Irfan Pathan, who is all set to make his debut on the big screen with Ajay Gnanamuthu’s Tamil film Cobra, is back in India after completing another schedule in Russia. In a chat with us, the cricketer-turned-actor opens up about the challenges of shooting in extreme weather conditions, his elder brother Yusuf Pathan’s retirement, the noise around the quality of the pitches for the India-England test series and more. Excerpts:

I have been to Kashmir and many other destinations during winter, but I have never been to a colder place than St. Petersburg. It was minus 20 degree Celsius during the shoot and the moment I took off my headscarf, my ears went red and I started shivering. It was absolutely crazy but thankfully, there were a couple of scenes where I had to run and that made me feel better. I also spotted a river that was entirely covered in snow. I even slipped on the snow once but overall, I enjoyed the entire experience. I was there with my family for a week and Imran (son) loved snowboarding. Safa (wife) bought a snowball maker for Imran and he was making snowballs everywhere! I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and although most of the local people we worked with had already been vaccinated, we still took utmost precautions on the sets.

Even though I have retired from the game, my first priority will always be cricket. I love doing commentary and helping out junior cricketers whenever I can. I have got offers to do Malayalam and Telugu films as well, but I first want to finish my ongoing project and see how the audiences respond to it. If the feedback is good and I get time after my other commitments to cricket, I am open to doing more movies.

When I look back at Yusuf ’s career, I feel extremely proud of what he has achieved for India and even in franchise cricket. The number of man-of-the-match awards that he has won in his career is not a joke. I made my debut for India much before him and he embraced that situation gracefully. He has always looked after me and that has never changed. A lot of people would say, “Chhota bhai toh Indian team mein aa gaya, bada bhai kab aayega?”

It’s a difficult situation for anyone, but he never bothered about what people had to say and kept working on his game. Today, the results are there for everyone to see. When we look at the number of trophies at home, which includes two World Cups, both of us feel happy about our cricket careers.

I have been reading about the criticism of the pitches for the India-England test series. I am in favour of teams having home advantage. After all, you can’t play at neutral venues all the time. The Indian team has never cribbed about the pitches while playing abroad, and given the kind of team we have right now, we can win in any country, like we proved in Australia. Having said that, I would like to see test matches lasting for at least three to four days.