Having won this year’s Arjuna Award, India pacer Ishant Sharma is over the moon as he said it is the fruit of his hard work in the last 13 years and is proud of himself.
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Ishant and woman cricketer Deepti Sharma were among 27 athletes to be bestowed with the Arjuna Award this year. On the other hand, opening batsman Rohit Sharma is among the five to be conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award – India's highest sporting honour.
“When I got to know that I was getting Arjuna award, I was really happy and proud about myself. For the last 13 years I did a lot of hardwork, so it’s a proud moment for me and my family,” Ishant said in a short video message posted by BCCI on its Twitter handle.
“More than me, my wife is proud of me because she is the one who thinks that I should get the award,” he added.
Sharing the success mantra of India’s current bowling unit, Ishant said the priority was always about winning a game without thinking of individual performances.
“The mindset of Team India’s bowling right now is that we always think about how to win a game, that’s the most important priority for us,” the lanky fast bowler said.
“We don’t think about individuals, we try and be in the situation and do accordingly. We plan according to every batsman. We try and execute those things on the ground and things happen for us,” he further remarked.
Ishant Sharma has played 97 Tests, 80 ODIs and 14 T20Is since making his India debut in 2007. The 31-year-old has claimed 297 wickets in the longest format of the game, while has taken 115 and 8 scalps in ODIs and T20Is respectively.
