Prolific pacer Ishant Sharma on Monday joined the elite list of Indian pacers with 300 Test wickets and said that it's been quite a roller-coaster for him.
Ishant Sharma scripted history by becoming just the third pacer from his country to take 300 Test match wickets in his 98th Test match when he trapped England’s batsman Dan Lawrence in front of the wicket in the second innings of the first Test between India and England at Chennai.
Veteran pacer joined the elite list consisting of two of India’s biggest match-winner in bowling department- Kapil Dev (434) and Zaheer Khan (311).
Addressing his milestone of 300 Test wickets Ishant Sharma credited his mentors and said that it's been a roller-coaster life for him.
"It's been quite a roller-coaster life. I've had a lot of experience, a lot of mentors who taught me how to bowl in the subcontinent and how to bowl abroad," Ishant Sharma told Star Sports.
Sharma was further positive about the hosts, chasing the 420-run total down, and said that India has a fearless batting line-up to chase the target.
IND v ENG 2021: Indian Cricket fraternity reacts as Ishant Sharma completes 300 wickets in Tests
"I'm a bit sore, after bowling 4-over bursts in domestic cricket, and then bowling 35 overs within a gap of just 3-4 days. If we get a good start tomorrow, we can chase this down, because we have a batting line-up that is fearless and can chase this down, and it's important to look at 381 runs and not 9 wickets," he said.
Reflecting on the nature of the pitch, Sharma said that they felt like bowling on-road for the first two days and added that the bowl started to turn later on in Day 4.
"On the first two days, the pitch was not assisting us and the spinners, it felt like we played on a road, but it started turning later on in Day 4 and it was a lot more responsive then," he concluded.
England team, however, decided not to enforce the follow-on after bowling out hosts for 337 in their first innings and instead batted for less than 2 sessions before getting bowled out for 178 to set India a massive target of 420 runs.
(Star Sports inputs)
