I cried for 15 days, Ishant Sharma recollects Mohali ODI against Australia in 2013

Making his international debut in 2007, Ishant Sharma has been the most senior and experienced member in the Test matches for India. Recently, he put up a good show against the Aussies where the Indians scripted the first series win in the country’s Test history. The Delhi pacer scalped 11 wickets in three Tests against the Australians in the tour.

However, the experienced pacer has revealed that he had tough times after India lost to Australia in Mohali back in 2013. Sharma had gone for 30 runs in an over when he was taken to the cleaners by a hard-hitting James Faulkner in the 48th over of the match. 

When Sharma had come into bowl, the Aussies were still 44 runs behind with only 18 balls remaining and the Australians eventually had managed to chase down 304 runs in 49.3 overs to win the game by four wickets.  Sharma, however, underlined the fact that incident was a wake-up call for him and his wife Pratima and friend Rajiv Mahajan, who helped him to come out of the “depression”.

“I have always been hard on myself; I am not someone who just pushes things under the carpet. I lost a game for India. I didn’t cry for just one day… I cried for 15 days at least,” Sharma told The Indian Express.

“There was a time when I used to keep bowling normally. Like for left-handers I used to keep bowling over-the-stumps, but now I have started changing. Now I train at nets to bowl round the stumps to a leftie. Or say, for a right-hander all I used to bowl was the ball that came in. Now I have tried to develop the straight ball.”

Spearheading the Indian bowling attack in Tests, Sharma has explained that he doesn’t want only to bowl economical and long spells and highlighted the importance of strike rate for a bowler. He also explained how he is practising at the nets these days.  

“I am fed up of listening to the same things — yes he has been bowling long spells, he is economical but not taking wickets. It is important to have a strike rate,” the Delhi pacer explained. 

“I still have long net sessions where I keep bowling. Earlier I used to work a lot, now I work smart.”