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Ishant Sharma Recalls When Zaheer Khan Gave Him His Shoes To Make His Debut

image-llcfnrx4Ishant Sharma was taken under the wings by Zaheer Khan (Twitter)

India's prominent fast bowler, Ishant Sharma, recently provided a captivating account of the hurdles he faced leading up to his ODI and Test debuts. He attributed much of his initial on-field success to the guidance and support of fellow pacer, Zaheer Khan. The backdrop of his ODI debut was set against an Ireland tour.


Ishant's gratitude for Zaheer's gesture on Debut

Arriving separately from the main contingent, the then greenhorn faced a series of challenges, from misplaced equipment to lost money, highlighting his inexperience with the complexities of international touring. Amidst these setbacks, it was Zaheer Khan's gesture that proved to be a silver lining.

While speaking on JioCinema, Ishant shared an incident when Rahul Dravid informed him about his debut the next day. The lanky pacer added that his initial concern was that he couldn't play without proper footwear.


He revealed asking Zaheer for a pair of shoes size 11 to which the Indian veteran obliged and provided him with them. Despite not practicing and borrowing shoes, Ishant wore them and played the match, even though his toe was hurting.

"Rahul Dravid told me that I have to debut tomorrow and I responded, ‘But I can’t play barefoot!’ I didn’t even practice. I asked Zak (Zaheer Khan) for a pair of size 11 shoes so I could play the match. He gave me some shoes, but my toe kept hurting, but I didn’t care," said Ishant.

Ishant also recounted his experience in the dressing room, expressing his sense of being overwhelmed by the presence of cricket stalwarts.

"The dressing room was overwhelming for me, with stalwarts like Harbhajan Singh, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, and Wasim Jaffer,” added the right-arm pacer.

However, it was Zaheer Khan, who sensed his trepidation and took it upon himself to ensure Ishant felt integrated and comfortable.