With several of their players unavailable due to sickness during the 2007 tour of Ireland, India summoned rookie Ishant Sharma to join their ODI squad ahead of a series against South Africa. The then 19-year-old Ishant had played just one Test and it was quite normal for someone at his age and experience to be a bundle of nerves.
Ishant was nervous but it was a lot more to do with traveling alone to an overseas destination. And as luck would have it, the pacer realised his kit bag was missing once he landed in Ireland.
“I was more nervous about the whole travel bit than about a match. Somehow, I made it to Ireland, jet-lagged, only to realise that my kit bag was missing. I knew that stuff gets stolen on the train but I had no idea this could happen on a flight,” Ishant said in Part 2 of his interview on Home of Heroes on JioCinema.
“I slept that night in the clothes I travelled in. I didn’t have my suitcase and my kit bag. I didn’t have any cards back then, so all my money was also there. I never knew what to use between a debit or credit card, so my father just told me to use cash. I didn’t even know I could claim that my kit bag was stolen, so I hadn’t done that,” he added.
And the then India captain Rahul Dravid told Ishant he was to make his ODI debut the next day leaving the youngster wondering how he would play without shoes.
Fortunately, he approached Zaheer Khan and asked if he could loan him a pair of size 11 shoes.
“Rahul Dravid told me that I have to debut the next day 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,” Ishant recalled.
A month before making his ODI debut, Ishant played in his first Test during the Bangladesh tour in Mirpur. He bowled seven overs and took a wicket for 19 runs as India completed an innings win.
“I remember the Bangladesh series where I made my Test debut. A dressing room with Paaji (Harbhajan Singh), Rahul bhai, Dada (Saurav Ganguly), Yuvi bhai (Yuvraj Singh), and Wasim bhai (Wasim Jaffer) was overwhelming,” Ishant said.
Zaheer realised how overwhelmed Ishant was having shared dressing room with some of the biggest names in the world of cricket.
“I used to sit with Zak and watch them on TV and now suddenly sharing the room with them. I wanted to go and lie down but somehow I controlled my feeling. I couldn’t muster the courage to say a word. Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) and RP Singh were there. I was in a situation where a goat was surrounded by lions. Zak imagined what I was going through and told me to chill and relax. After that, I felt a lot more comfortable, but I was sitting quietly in a corner,” Ishant said.
Ishant recalled how his father was left in tears after the India call-up.
“I debuted in Bangladesh. I was at home when I got a call for India selection. I still remember that day, for the first time, I saw my father in tears. They were tears of joy, and he told me this is just the start. I had never hugged my father, we bonded well but obviously, we would have occasional disagreements over certain topics, and he would suppress his emotions. He would want to appear strong. He never imagined this day would come,” Ishant said.
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