Ishant Sharma recalls comical banter with KL Rahul after scoring fifty in WI Test match

Indian pacer Ishant Sharma made his international debut in 2007 at the age of 18. While the right-arm fast bowler has bagged 297 Test wickets to date, it took him 12 years to register his maiden Test half-century when he scored 57 against West Indies in the 2019 Sabina Park Test. Quite recently, Ishant Sharma was involved in a video interaction with his teammate Mayank Agarwal where he revisited his best Test knock and recalled a challenge posed by KL Rahul prior to his innings.  

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Ishant Sharma recalls his victorious duel with KL Rahul

On Saturday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a video interaction between Ishant Sharma and Mayank Agarwal. In the interaction, Agarwal asked the veteran pacer to reveal some details about a challenge posed towards him by opening batsman KL Rahul. KL Rahul, who scored 13 in India’s first innings in the same match, told Ishant Sharma that he will be doing favours for him if the pacer managed to surpass his score. To everyone’s surprise, the tail-ender ended up scoring 57 runs off 80 balls during a 112-run eighth-wicket partnership with Hanuma Vihari.

Ishant Sharma said that everyone in the Indian balcony, including captain Virat Kohli himself, were cheering for him when he reached his 50. However, he also recalled KL Rahul’s reaction when the top-order batsman hilariously joked about “jumping off the balcony” if Sharma “scores a hundred today”. The pacer further revealed that he kept flaunting his batting achievement when he came back to the dressing room and even riotously gave batting tips to KL Rahul. After much teasing from Ishant Sharma, the pacer revealed that Rahul laughingly pleaded him to stop.

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Ishant Sharma talks about KL Rahul challenge with Mayank Agarwal, watch video

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Recap: West Indies vs India 2019 Sabina Park Test

Ishant Sharma’s 57, Virat Kohli’s 76 and Hanuma Vihari’s 111 propelled India to score 416 in their first innings. Mayank Agarwal, who opened with KL Rahul in the match, also played his part with a significant 55 at the top of the order. Ishant Sharma then contributed with the ball by picking up figures of 1-24 and 2-37 in both innings to skittle West Indies for 117 in their first-innings and for 210 during their run-chase. Virat Kohli and co. went on to win the match by 257 runs.

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