‘My son may have been advised by his teammates for his new ponytail’

Mumbai: Ishant Sharma may have been "advised" by his teammates to have a samurai ponytail, according to his father Vinay Kumar Sharma. On Saturday, Team India's 27-year-old right-arm fast bowler was seen in his new ponytail hairstyle during the second Test match against South Africa at Bangalore's M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Team India Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar during a training session at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. (Photo: PTI)

Speaking from Delhi on Saturday morning, senior Sharma says, "Very recently Ishant has come out with this new hairstyle. He is not superstitious but may have been advised by his teammates to avoid a haircut and have this ponytail on the back of his head."

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"Today's youngsters do such fashions of their own and parents are not consulted. Whatever it is, he looks better. Besides this, his long hair will not cover his face which otherwise used to distract him at the time of bowling," Ishant’s dad added.

Ishant's childhood coach Shravan Kumar was not surprised to see him differently on TV on Saturday. "He came with this new hairstyle to me a few days ago and I was not surprised. Today's youngsters follow Bollywood stars and Ishant may have felt this ponytail hairstyle would suit him more and he has gone with this," Shravan points out.

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"Ishant, however, is not the first Indian cricketer to have a ponytail. Our former fast bowler Kapil Dev, in his later years of his cricketing career was also seen with this style."

The ponytail has not been remarkably persistent with few cricketers like Jason Gillespie, Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee, who had very long hair touching the shoulders. But once England bowler Phil Tufnell was not only advised by his Middlesex captain Mike Gatting to cut his ponytail but took him to a barber shop and made him have a haircut.

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