India vs England 2021: ‘Feels great to be playing 100 Tests,’ says Ishant Sharma as the upcoming third Test against England would mark his 100th Test feat
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Team India’s ace pacer Ishant Sharma would play his 100th of the career as he would feature in the third Test against England in Ahmedabad. This will be the day-night Test match and would be played with the pink ball at the Motera Stadium.
The veteran of 99 Test matches, he became the third Indian pacer to take 300 wickets in Test cricket earlier in the series.
“If your career is 14 years long and you are still playing, you cannot name just one highlight. It is difficult to pinpoint just one highlight, every sportsperson has the graph going up and down. I cannot say about that one thing that took my graph or brought it down. Obviously, it feels great to be playing 100 Tests, I learn a lot from Zaheer Khan, I learnt from his work ethic. I have told everyone playing in the team that if you keep on working on your fitness, the rewards will come,” said Ishant on being asked of his career’s best high during a virtual press conference on Monday.
Amazing memory while bowling to Ricky Ponting during 2007-08 tour to Australia
Revisiting his comprehensive career, Ishant was reminded of a spell he bowled to Ricky Ponting durind India’s tour to Australia in 2007-08.
Then skipper Anil Kumble had asked Ishant — “Ek aur over dalega (will you bowl another over), and to this Ishant had replied: “Haan dalunga (yes, I will bowl). As fate would have it, Ishant went on to take the wicket of Ponting in the very next over.
“When I went to Australia in 2007-08 in Australia, I was just a youngster and I was just focusing on bowling. I did not think much, as we bowl in domestic cricket, I just followed the same. Over the years, I learnt by being in different situations. I have always had this motive in making the team win, till the day I play, I will play with the same motive. Personal milestones can be there, when you are about to leave your career you can see these milestones. But these are just numbers for me, I do not play for numbers, I just play to win,” he added.
Ishant experience with the white-ball is limited compared to the experience he has with the red ball. On being asked if his absence from the shorter formats of the game has elongated his life in the Test cricket, Sharma said, “I love to play white-ball cricket, sportsperson have their job to play, this is the least they can do. If I am not playing white-ball cricket, it should not affect my Test cricket. I should be grateful for how many matches I have played in Tests. I think like this only. I do not think that if I played all three formats, I wouldn’t have played 100 Tests. I would have achieved the feat a bit late, but I would have played 100 Tests.“
“I think about one game at a time, I do not think about the future. I understand my body and what type of training I need to do. Right now, I have understood that as you grow older, you need to think about the recovery process as well. I am looking after myself, everything has paid off for me nicely. It is tough to say which captain understood me the best. It is not about the captain understanding me but it is the other way around. It is important to know what the captain wants from me, when this communication is done, it makes things a lot easier,” he added.
Ishant Sharma set to play his 100th Test at Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera. By doing so, he will be the 2nd Indian pacer after Kapil Dev to play 100 Tests.
Besides, only ten pacers have played 100 or more Tests in cricketing history.
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Sahil Sethi
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