India vs West Indies | Did not “feel good” while batting, reveals Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma, who stitched together a 60-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja, has revealed that he did not feel good when he stepped out to bat in the first innings. The 30-year-old added that with the ball being wet, it was Jasprit Bumrah who suggested cross-seam bowling to extract some extra bounce.
With India staring down a low first innings score, Ishant and Jadeja put together a 60-run stand to guide India to a respectable score at the end of the innings. While Ishant scored just 19 runs, he, more importantly, managed to play out over 10 overs (62 balls) which allowed Jadeja the freedom to score at the other end.Â
"To be honest, when I was out during our innings, I was not feeling good at all. The more I scored runs with Jadu (Jadeja), the better it would be for the team. From 25 for 3, the kind of comeback we had, I wanted to have a long partnership with Jadeja," Ishant told R Sridhar in an interview for bcci.tv.Â
But the lanky pacer, who is playing his 91st Test, was done quite done. With the ball in his hand, he started dominating the batsmen and towards the end of Day 2 completed his five-wicket haul. But it was not as simple as just landing the ball in the right areas as Ishant told Sridhar.Â
"There was rain and after that the ball became wet and there was nothing happening (with the ball). So, we thought we can bowl with a cross seam. There was bounce. Actually, Bumrah told me that we can try cross seam since there is nothing happening," Ishant explained.
"The attempt was, if you bowl out the opposition as soon as possible, it is good for your team. We tried that we were able to do that."Â
Jadeja, who received due credit for his performance with the bat, had asserted in the press conference that it was Ishant’s two caught and bowled dismissals that had turned the game in India’s favour. When Sridhar, who is the fielding coach of the National side, asked Ishant about the same, the pacer replied, "All credit goes to you (Sridhar). You always said while fielding you have to always anticipate. If you do extra work after being so tired, if you do fielding after bowling so much, your fitness is increased.Â
"As a cricketer, if that (fitness) is improved everybody can see the result but the hard work behind it is not known (by the people). So that is the result of hard work."