Australia vs India 2018: Indian Pacer Ishant Sharma Takes a Dig at Australian Journalist

Team India fast bowler Ishant Sharma, who is on his fourth tour to Australia, is currently gearing up for the four-match Border-Gavaskar Test series starting from December 6.

Meanwhile, the tall and lanky fast bowler impressed on his first tour during 2007-08 when he dismissed Ricky Ponting in the third Test. Moreover, India won the Test stunning the hosts beating them by 72 runs. Since then Ishant has played Test series in Australia in 2011-12 and in 2014-15. Ishant Sharma has played 10 Tests down under and picked up 20 wickets at an average of 62.15.

The pacer from Delhi addressed the media ahead of the series opener where he had to face a wide range of questions. But in the middle of the conference, Ishant corrected a journalist who mentioned how the Ishant Sharma has been touring Australia for the past 11 years.

“I think you’ve been coming here for 11 years now, is that right?” asked the journalist.

“Not every year I come here, but yes…” to which Ishant jokingly replied,

“11 years since the first time,” the journalist quickly corrected his question before moving on.

The biggest thing is to win the series

India have never won a Test series in Australia but have drawn three series Down Under in 1980-81, 1985-86 and 2003-04.

“The biggest thing right now is to win the series and that’s what everybody is focusing on right now. We are not even thinking about personal performances. Just one aim that is to win a series in Australia,” Ishant told reporters.

“Everyone is really passionate. We are pretty motivated to win the series. Not only in Australia, when we played in South Africa and England we were pretty motivated to win a series abroad and I think that is the biggest opportunity for us right now because we always have a good balance in the side which can do things for us which is very promising,” he added.

“I think it’s pretty serious for us (the practice game), because we have to set the tone. You know the conditions, obviously playing here after a long time. You need to get into the groove, get used to the conditions and I think it’s a pretty important game for everyone,” he said.

It is a great opportunity for ourselves

With pacers like Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar doing their job well, Ishant Sharma is taking this opportunity to make his mark.

“If you’re representing the country the pressure is there, I think it’s a great opportunity as well because you have a healthy competition in the team as you can see there a lot of fast bowlers coming up and if you are not doing well then any time you can sit behind and watch the game,” he said.

“I think it is a great opportunity for everyone to do well in any conditions as you can see we did well in the last two tours especially in South Africa and England as well,” he concluded.