Zaheer Khan, who got married a month before current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, talked about his wife Sagarika Ghatge in a recent interview with Bollywood.com.
The former Indian cricketer revealed Sagarika has improved her cricket knowledge a lot in recent time. Zaheer also added he made her watch whole IPL season with him.
Sagarika is famous for her work in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer movie Chak De India. She had got a well-recognized role. Funnily, her character Preeti Sabharwal ditches a cricketer in the movie because he doesn't respect Hockey.
Zaheer talked about the movie as well. The 39-year-old said he loved the movie like the whole of India but never thought he would end up marrying one of movie's main character.
"Of course, Shah Rukh was the best [in the film] and everyone remembers his 70-minute speech. But at that time, I obviously didn't know that I would end up marrying Preeti Sabharwal (actor Sagarika Ghatge) from that movie (laughs)," says Zaheer.
"Maybe now, if I watch it, I will pay more attention to what my wife was doing in it."
Does Sagarika understand the game of cricket now? "Yes, she does, especially after watching a full season of IPL with me [playing]. So Sagarika is better equipped now. Also, when I meet my friends, we all ultimately end up talking about cricket, so she has no escape route (smiles)," he said.
Zaheer, surprisingly, said he is thankful of not meeting Sagarika during his cricket days.
"She would have kind of sacrificed quite a lot [if she had been in my life at that point], and I am talking about time. Back then, I wouldn't have had enough time, because fast bowling is not an easy job. To stay fit and be at the top level - as a fast bowler - in a fine-tuned manner has its share of challenges, and that's not easy to deal with at times."
India's World Cup 2011 hero, Zaheer also said that people usually say he should not have retired as there were still few years of cricket left in him.
"It's great to hear when people say, 'Oh, you still had a couple of years left in you'. As a cricketer, I probably wanted to hear that. Also, I guess taking a decision to retire is an individual thing. There is no fixed formula to follow about going away from the game. But there is no question of [having any] regret," he said.
Zaheer who retired in 2015, with 311 Test and 282 ODI wickets, added that it was a tough decision to retire. "Still, it comes very naturally to you. [After moving away from the longer formats] I enjoyed playing the shorter format, so the progression of moving away from the game was pretty smooth. In the shorter format too, I enjoyed myself, especially since it preserved my connection with the game. In the hindsight, I feel things happened just as perfectly as I had imagined them," he said.
