Veteran India pacer Ishant Sharma has recalled a story of how former India Test captain Virat Kohli instigated him so much, leading him to get banned for one match. The incident happened during a Test series between Sri Lanka and India in 2015.

This was the first full series for Virat Kohli as India’s full-time Test captain, after he had taken over from MS Dhoni during the Australia tour earlier in the year. Certain incidents involving Ishant and a few Sri Lankan team members during the third Test in Colombo prompted the ICC to take stern measures against everyone.

"This happened during the 2015 Sri Lanka Test series. Dhammika Prasad was bowling bouncers at me. I took a single, and as I was reaching the non-striker's end, I told him, 'You are too slow to hit me on the head.' This is what started it. Then, he and I kept going back and forth. But suddenly, Dinesh Chandimal came from third man, and he elbowed me. In the heat of the moment, Ashwin got out, and I ran back to the dressing room—because I had to change my shoes.

When I was doing it, I suddenly saw that Ravi Shastri and Sri Lanka's manager were leaving the dressing room. They thought that Dhammika and I had fought with each other. However, Dhammika Prasad followed me all the way into the Indian dressing room," Ishant said on the Raj Shamani podcast.

Ishant Sharma then revealed how Virat Kohli riled him up in the dressing room. He fired him up, stroked his ego, and said Dhammika Prasad came to hit him, and Ishant remained silent.

Ishant revealed that he knew his match fees were already deducted, and, angered by Virat Kohli’s words, he let himself show emotions, leading to the ICC banning him for one Test match in the aftermath.

"Virat knows how to rile me up. I was unaware. That's when Virat told me, 'Woh tere peeche tujhe maarne aa gaya, aur tune kuch nahi kiya? Dhammika Prasad tujhe maarne aaya tha' (He came all the way to beat you, and you didn't do a thing?)

Then he made me watch the clip where Chandimal elbowed me. And I swear, I went mad. I am usually not that aggressive, but that day, my protective mode crept in. By then, my match fee had already been deducted. Then I went out to bowl, dismissed three batters, and celebrated in their faces. And got banned,” Ishant added.

Ishant and Chandimal received one-match suspensions, while Prasad and Lahiru Thirimanne were fined 50% of their match fees. Ishant's penalty resulted in two suspension points, which kept him out of the first Test against South Africa in Mohali in November.

While anything like this is never easy to swallow, Kohli offered a totally different viewpoint.

"I was very happy with the incident when he was batting because it happened at the right time for us—we had to bowl yesterday, and they made him angry, and it couldn't have happened at a better time for us," Kohli had said.

"The timing was absolutely perfect, and everything fell in place for us as far as being aggressive is concerned. And the way he bowled in the second innings, he didn't concede a boundary for 19 overs. And that's the kind of pressure he created on those batsmen because of one incident. So, it had to be controlled, but, in the end, it benefitted us,” Ishant added.

Ishant Sharma last played a Test for India in 2021. He has played 105 Tests, taking 311 wickets with best bowling figures of 7/74 with an average of 32.40 and a strike rate of 61.60.

(Hindustan Times inputs)