Ishant Sharma is undoubtedly one of the best pacers to have played for India. The tall guy from Delhi made batsmen sweat through his bouncers and swinging deliveries. However, Ishant’s cricketing journey was also a rollercoaster. While he was one of the best in Test cricket and went on to achieve the rarest of milestones- to play 100 Tests for India, Sharma had a below-average white-ball career.
The 34-year-old only played 94 white-ball games (80 ODIs and 14 T20Is) in his entire career wherein he managed to take 123 wickets. Now, as Sharma is out of favour from all forms of the game, the veteran pacer has revealed the lowest moment of his career. Ishant revealed that when he got smashed by James Faulkner in an ODI game in 2013, it felt like the worst moment of his career.
“My lowest moment was that 2013 match in Mohali against Australia. I don’t know if I could ever have a moment worse than that because I was…I don’t know. It was very tough for me. And it wasn’t because I gave away a lot of runs. The thing that hurt me the most was I was the reason behind the team’s loss. I was dating my wife at that time and I just spoke to her and I think I just cried for almost a month,” Ishant Sharma revealed during Cricbuzz’s ‘Rise of New India’ show.
The 34-year-old further stated that he was lucky to have MS Dhoni by his side. Ishant also revealed that after the game, Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan came to him and consoled the pacer.
“The good thing that happened was Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) came to my room and Shikhar (Dhawan), who was playing that game, also came and said, ‘Dekh, tu acha khel raha hai (Look you have been doing well).’ Because of that one match, it became a perception that I am not a white-ball bowler," he added.