Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir
Ishant Sharma [Photo-Indian Express]

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin heaped rich praise on teammate Ishant Sharma, who became only the third Indian fast bowler to achieve the 300 Test wickets milestone. Ishant Sharma reached the landmark on day 4 of the first Test between India and England being played in Chennai, in what is his 98th match for the Indian national cricket team.

The lanky fast bowler made his Test debut against Bangladesh in 2007 and before him, only fast bowlers Kapil Dev (434) and Zaheer Khan (311) have taken 300 wickets for India. Overall he is the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone with Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, and Ravichandran Ashwin being the other three bowlers.

I could keep going on and keep complimenting Ishant Sharma: Ravichandran Ashwin

India
Image Credit: Twitter

“Ishant is one of the hardest working cricketers I’ve seen. He has worked extremely hard for more than just one reason. Being that tall requires a lot of assets to manage through a career. From the Ishant who went to Australia and got Ricky Ponting (Perth, January 2008) out has gone through so many other tours. He’s had his fair share of injuries so get close to 100 Tests for India is not a joke, it is a fantastic achievement. Three hundred club he is the third Indian fast-bowler to get there,” said Ravichandran Ashwin was quoted as saying by the Cricketer.

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Ashwin further wished that Ishant goes on to take 400-500 Test wickets, given that he has time on his side.

I could keep going on and keep complimenting him but I wish to see him get to 400 and probably 500 and he should be a roadmap for a lot of Indian quicks going forward,” the ace Indian off-spinner added.

Quite a rollercoaster life so far: Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma, Jos Buttler
Ishant Sharma [Image Credits: Twitter]
Ishant Sharma, 32, recalled his experience playing for the Indian team for the past 14 years and mentioned that it has been a learning experience for him about bowling different lines and lengths according to the places and pitches.

Quite a rollercoaster life so far. A lot of experiences, I’ve learned a lot about how to bowl in the subcontinent, and what lengths to bowl when we go abroad. The first two days it felt like we were playing on the road, but on the fourth day it started turning a bit and we caught a bit of a break. Even on the first two days, I thought we bowled well even though we weren’t getting much help,” Ishant Sharma said.

Not only the 300 Test wickets, but Ishant is also nearing the 100 Tests milestone, which will make him only the second Indian fast bowler, after Kapil Dev (131) to appear in 100 or more Test matches.

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