During the Commentary stint on the 2nd Test on the West Indies tour 2023, the Indian player Ishant recalls incidents from the 2nd NZ Test in 2014 which narrates the funny talks between Zaheer and Virat Kohli.
Ishant recalls an incident when Zaheer Khan lashed out at Virat in 2014
Ishant Sharma recalls an incident about Zaheer Khan telling ‘You’ve ended my career’ to Virat Kohli. Ishant Sharma narrated an incident that involves Virat Kohli and Zaheer Khan’s conversation during his commentary in the IND-WI Test series.
He said how Virat Kohli dropped a catch in the second Test against New Zealand in February 2014 due to which McCullum went on to score 300 runs. Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international cricket after this match where Brendon McCullum scored on to score 300 runs. New Zealand declared the second innings after scoring 680/8d in Wellington.
“We were playing in New Zealand. Brendon McCullum had scored 300 runs and when Virat Kohli dropped a catch, I remembered that this happened around lunch. Virat said sorry to Zak and Zak said, ‘No worries, we’ll get him out.’ During tea, Kohli said sorry again and Zak told him not to worry. On the third day when Kohli apologized during tea, Zak told him, ‘You’ve ended my career!” Ishant shared the anecdote.
“I didn’t say that. I said that there were only two players, the first was Kiran more who dropped Graham Gooch and he scored 300. After that, it’s Virat Kohli who dropped a catch and someone scored 300. Then, he told me not to talk like that, naturally as he wouldn’t have felt good about that. The catch was dropped and the runs were scored,” Zaheer said.
The incident happened in the second Test of the series at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, which turned out to be the last test match of Zaheer’s career. Despite McCullum’s triple century, he took a five-wicket haul.
Zaheer Khan and Ishant are India’s joint second-highest wicket-takers as far as fast bowlers are concerned in Test cricket. India’s bowling quality has peaked in the last few years with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.
Ishant Sharma had been bowling great under Virat’s captaincy, but Zaheer Khan was taking the team to new levels before Ishant’s performance. Ishant Sharma started his career when Zaheer was leading Indian pacers.
Both Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma have 311 wickets under their name in Test cricket. Ishant Sharma is yet to announce his retirement, but he didn’t play for India since 2021.
