Ishant Sharma was punished for having long hair in school

Veteran Indian speedster Ishant Sharma has made it a habit to be in the news for different reasons – albeit most of them being funny. Ever since he broke out at the international scene, Ishant has been in the headlines for his hairstyle. The Indian cricket team had seen players with long hair before, but none with hair as long as Ishant Sharma. The TV replays often showed his curls cover his face on the follow through and that was often seen as a bit of a joke by many.

In the recent episode of What the Duck, Ishant recollected a few such memories of his childhood where his hairdo caused him some problems. The host of the show, Vikram Sathaye, asked him if he ever used his long hair to scare away the batsmen. In a very cheeky reply, Ishant said he did think about the option once. “Initially, I tried this trick but later it didn’t work. Therefore, I started to tie them,” said the India speedster.

Speaking further, he noted that the ponytail has come to the picture now. He, however, always had a liking towards long hair. He had played for the India U19 team and despite that, his school vice principal had punished him for having long hair. But a very stubborn Ishant did not cut his hair despite having been thrown out of the assembly as his punishment.

“Always a pony tail? No. Quite from the beginning, I was fond of having long hair. There have been many incidents with this hairstyle. Once when I was in school. I had already played Under-19 by then and my vice-principal asked the students with long hair to step forward but I was quietly standing behind. Even then I used to be the tallest of all,” recalled Ishant Sharma.

“So he gripped my hair and dragged me to the assembly. Obviously, it’s embarrassing that you’re playing for India Under-19 and still, vice-principal drags you. Throwing you out! That too in the assembly. But even after so much of all this. I didn’t cut my hair,” Ishant added.