Team India pacer Ishant Sharma has recalled his ODI debut and revealed an interesting anecdote involving his shoes, his luggage and Rahul Dravid. While talking to opener Mayank Agarwal, Ishant revealed that he was left without his shoes in his maiden ODI series and he had to borrow a pair from Zaheer Khan to play in the match.
Ishant Sharma also revealed how he got nervous when legendary Rahul Dravid asked the reason for him not practicing ahead of the match. Ishant, made his ODI debut against South Africa in 2007 and bowled alongside Zaheer Khan and RP Singh in the match.
Ishant revealed that he was not picked for the ODI series in Ireland and was called all of a sudden. The Delhi pacer also revealed that players including Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni fell sick in Ireland due to the tremendous cold.
“It was so cold there. I was selected for the England Test series and not the ODI series in Ireland. I was chilling at home and then I got a call that you have that come to play ODIs in Ireland. I tell you my friend that it was so cold there, it was like ice for us. So many people including MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa and RP Singh fell ill due to the change of weather conditions. At least, 7 people fell ill.”
“I was waiting for my luggage and I called my manager. The manager said the luggage will come directly in your room, I was like ‘woahh! we have this facility also, this is nice, in Ranji matches we carry it ourselves’. I was standing and then Rahul Dravid asked Ishant why are you not bowling. I nervously said him that I was waiting for my shoes and that shocked him. I explained him that I kept my luggage in the flight but hadn’t reached me. Rahul Dravid asked me that how will I play the match tomorrow. I was shocked again. I borrowed shoes from Zaheer Khan and played my first ODI match,” Ishant Sharma recalled.
Ishant Sharma also talked about his famous reaction against Steve Smith during the Bangalore Test match in 2017. Ishant in a very animated reaction against Steve Smith had left his teammates and fans in splits. The veteran of 97 Test matches said that he was just trying to unsettle Steve Smith and that was the reason he tried things like that. Mayank asked about Virat Kohli’s reaction over the same incident.
“He is an aggressive captain, he loves it when you show aggression and he doesn’t tell you anything for that. He always says just get me the wicket and do whatever you want. He just tells me not to get banned. So, when I was banned in Sri Lanka he came again and said do everything you want but just don’t get banned,” Ishant Sharma said.
Ishant Sharma has taken 297 wickets for India in the longest format but has scored only 1fifty. The fifty came against West Indies in Kingston in 2019. In the first innings Ishant Sharma with 57 runs was the second-highest run-scorer for India after Hanuma Vihari. KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal had scored 13 and 55 runs, respectively. Ishant said he had fun time with KL Rahul after smashing his only Test fifty.
“Leave everyone’s reaction ask KL Rahul about his reaction. KL Rahul said if I would have scored 100 then he would have jumped from the balcony. KL scored some 25-26 runs and he said ‘son if you scored more than me I will do this and that for you’. My batting gloves got wet for the 1st time. It was KL Rahul’s gloves and he gave me pair of new gloves as well. He was like ‘I should have batted with these gloves and then I could also have scored a fifty’.”
