Senior Indian pacer Ishant Sharma, who was recovering from an ankle injury, made a solid comeback in the Indian team and went on to take three for 31 in 15 overs despite the effortless performance of New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, after another lower-order collapse of team India, where they were bundled up for 165 on Day 2 of the ongoing first test match.
Ishant Sharma had arrived in New Zealand 72 hours before the 1st Test after clearing a late fitness test, however, the cricketer looked fresh and showed no signs of rustiness on return from an ankle injury. He finished Day 2 with amazing figures of 3/31 after bowling 15 overs. But the cricketer feels that he wasn’t able to execute his plans properly because of lack of sleep.
In an interview after the match, the cricketer revealed that he had slept only for 3 hours on the eve of the Test and just for 40 minutes on Friday. He said:
“I am not happy. I haven’t slept in the last 2 days. I was struggling today also. I did not bowl the way I wanted to. The team asked me to play so I played. Anything for the team,”
He added:
“Not that I wasn’t happy with my bowling. I wasn’t happy with my body as I could only sleep for 40 minutes last night and the day before the Test match, I slept for three hours. The more you can recover (from jet lag), the better effort you can put in on the ground. There’s no better recovery than a sound sleep. The sounder your sleep is, the better your body will respond on the ground.”
Furthermore, Ishant Sharma gave credit to the NCA support staff for working hard on his recovery with him. Talking about his injury and recovery period, he revealed:
“All credit goes to the NCA support staff. They worked really hard with me. The Big thing was, we never really have to come and play a Test match. My MRI showed I had a complete tear, ligament tear, not one but two. I was expected to be out for 6 weeks. I just wanted to carry on with my rehab. Nothing was playing on my mind… I did not think about playing the New Zealand Tests. I just told myself ‘if it happens, well and good. Otherwise, I cannot do anything about it’. Even in the bathroom, you can slip and get injured.”
He added:
“Before I came here, I tested myself. I bowled 21 overs in 2 days in Bengaluru. And then I came here. I again bowled 1 and half hours in the nets to check if I am match fit. Because after traveling for almost 24 hours, it was a big toll on the body.”
“Definitely (comeback on Day 3). At the moment, India’s speciality is ‘we don’t give up until the match is over’. We do all the hard work that is possible from our side. The results follow it. Giving 100 percent on the ground matters,”
Here, watch the video of the interview:
Jetlagged Ishant Sharma >>>>>#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/aD1DQXIA1h
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) February 22, 2020
Here, check out the reactions of Twitterati on this:
His first part of the career wasn’t great. May be the captain didn’t use him well, may be he didn’t bowl right lengths, a plethora of catches dropped. But the last 2 yrs his numbers have been up there with the best. A workhorse and now matured well. Hope he crosses 350 wkts mark
— cricketmaan??? (@cricketmaan1) February 22, 2020
He was deadly in Aussy tour, made batting really tough for Ricky Ponting. He was regularly hitting 145 kmph too. Then he got injured and things went downhill. I’d blame coaching and proper guidance.
— Ankit Gusai (@ankitgusai19) February 22, 2020
https://twitter.com/HarisAh99/status/1231207833913393153?s=20
https://twitter.com/Sureshmoorthy17/status/1231213188667998208?s=20
https://twitter.com/Smithed49/status/1231219126875475969?s=20
The Old War Horse…..
— Pawan Tiwari (@pawantiwaringp) February 22, 2020
