Watch: Ishant Sharma reveals the reason behind his banter with Aussie skipper Steve Smith
The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru dished out some fabulous cricket over the last 4 days and in the end hosts India staged a dramatic comeback and won the 2nd Test by 75 runs to draw level in the 4 match series. There were several on field banters throughout the match with players from either side taking a dig at each other with some verbal volleys. After their sensational come from behind victory fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav spoke at length with former Indian captain Kapil Dev, former Indian batsman VVS Laxman and TV Presenter Jatin Sapru.
Speaking about India’s dramatic comeback Ishant said that someone had to step up and turn the scales in India’s favour in the 2nd Test. Speaking about his wonderful spell Ishant said that his main aim before the start of the opening day was to bowl 20 overs with heart and let destiny do the rest. He further added that over the last tours Australia have predominantly struggled against reverse swing and it was evident on the 4th day of the Test.
Ishant made a weird gesture to Smith during the 1st innings and it went viral on twitter. Speaking on that incident Ishant said he gets irritated with what Smith does after playing each ball. He is always a verbal guy and he gave Smith a taste of his own medicine. All he wanted was to disturb the concentration of Smith and in the end he was successful in his venture as Smith was dismissed by Jadeja soon after.
His partner Umesh Yadav joined him in the conversation. Kapil Dev who is arguably the greatest fast bowler India has ever produced was very impressed with the fact that the Indian pacers bowled faster than their Australian counterparts. He urged them to continue their good work. This was the first time in many tests India played with 4 bowlers so the workload was more on Ishant and Umesh.
Speaking about the comeback which they made in Bengaluru, Ishant said that after the defeat in Pune all the players sat down and worked on their mistakes and came out all guns blazing in Bangalore. After a lacklustre opening day in the office, India made an exceptional comeback which helped them win the match by 75 runs.
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Ishant further said that form depends on the mentality of the player and not what you are doing on the pitch. Before the start of the match, both Ishant and Umesh decided to divide the workload among them and bowl at least 20 bowlers with all their heart. Referring to what Sachin Tendulkar had told a few years back, Ishant said that if he is in the positive frame of mind he considers himself to be in form.
The next two Test matches will be played in Ranchi and Dharamsala from 16th and 25th March respectively.
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