Ishant Sharma recalls the India vs. Australia 3rd ODI series at Mohali grounds in 2013, when the visitors required just 44 runs in 18 balls. It was a tough moment & Captain Dhoni picked up Ishant to bowl that crucial decider over. However the pacer easily gave 30 runs to Australia by Faulkner hitting massive four sixes in that particular over & Australia hailing victory.
Describing it as a turning point of his career, Ishant said that he just felt like he had betrayed the country because on his bowling Australia’s James Faulkner hit whopping 30 runs which proved the match turner for team India.
Ishant Sharma quoted as saying in Cricketbaazi show as, “The turning point of my life came in 2013 when Faulkner hit me for 30 runs in one over in an ODI in Mohali that Australia went on to win”.
Ishant Sharma was recalling India vs. Australia 3rd ODI at Mohali when team Australia needed just 44 runs to win from 18 balls & Captain Dhoni handed Ishant to bowl that crucial over but the pacer failed to deliver & straight away gave 30 runs to Faulkner which includes fours sixes in that one particular over which turned the entire match in the favor of Australia.
Faulkner was termed as the ‘Man of the Match’ for his outstanding 64 runs in 29 balls that helped Australia to chase a not so easy target of 304 & take a 2-1 lead in the series. However that particular incident took Ishant’s career to a downfall. He was dropped out of the Indian team after that ODI & his confidence was low since then.
Speaking about that situation Ishant said that after that Mohali ODI match he cried for almost two to three weeks without speaking to anyone.
Ishant quoted as saying, “At that time I felt I had betrayed myself and my country, for two-three weeks, I didn’t speak to anyone. I cried a lot. I am a very tough guy. My mother says she hasn’t seen a tougher person than me. But I called my girlfriend and cried on the phone like a child. Those three weeks were like a nightmare. I stopped eating. I couldn’t sleep or do anything else. You switch on the television and people are criticizing you, which messes you up even more”.
But after that the pacer turned out into a different person who started taking his responsibilities seriously. Ishant quoted as saying, “I laugh about it now and I consider it a blessing in disguise. Sometimes you need a jolt to understand your passion. After the Faulkner incident, I went through major changes in my life. After 2013, I started taking things seriously. Before that, if I had a bad performance, people would come and tell me ‘It’s okay, it happens.’ But after 2013, if someone came to me and said that, I wouldn’t listen. If I have made a mistake, I have made a mistake. I started taking responsibility for my actions. When you do that, you play every match to win it for the team”.
Ishant is now taking his career very seriously & is just three wickets away from completing 300 Test Wickets for team India & he would definitely achieve the 300 test wickets mark in the upcoming Test Series when India will tour Australia later this year.
