India vs England | Playing for India and claiming five wickets feels good, reveals Ishant Sharma

Ishant has proved time and again that he's not someone who can be written off easily. Regarded by former Australian skipper - Ricky Ponting - as one of the best Indian fast bowlers of the past decade, Ishant has been one of India’s leading fast bowlers in the Test formathe even if he does not have the same number of wickets as Bhuvaneshwar Kumar or Ravichandran Ashwin to prove his point. But his relentless hard work which is evident in his long spells has certainly earned him his captain's vote. 

And that hard work bore fruit in the second innings at Edgbaston as he picked up five wickets against England as the hosts were bowled out for a mere 180 in the second innings. Sharma was happy to see that he was rewarded for his efforts as India look to be heading for an impressive win in the first Test.

“Actually, I got tired of the tag. I am bowling well but my wicket column has always not been very good. It feels very good because I put in a lot of work. Playing for your country and taking five wickets, that too in the second innings, feels nice,” Sharma told reporters.

The Delhite has played 50 of his 83 Tests away from home and claimed seven of his eight five-wicket hauls also outside of India which proved his importance on foreign soil. After he was overlooked by all eight IPL franchises for this year's edition of the tournament, Ishant admitted he was disappointed. But the 29-year old pacer credited his County stint with Essex for his success in the ongoing Test. Ishant had earlier recorded his career-best haul of 7/74 on the 2014 tour of England as he bowled India to victory in a Test at Lord’s.

“Playing County made a huge difference. In a way, I was disappointed (not playing IPL 2018), but it was good for me. I played for Sussex and bowled with the Dukes ball. One good thing was although I only played four matches, there were overs behind me, I bowled around 150-200 overs (he bowled 114.3 overs in the first-class games). I played one-dayers also, so the experience was really good,” Sharma added.