IND vs ENG: Understanding restoration of my physique helped me play this lengthy, says Ishant Sharma

Image Source : GETTY IMAGES File photograph of Ishant Sharma.
Pace bowler Ishant Sharma, who’s on the cusp of changing into solely the second India tempo bowler to play 100 Test matches after Kapil Dev, says enjoying one format — Test cricket — over the previous few years, particularly overseas, and understanding the method of restoration has helped him get near the milestone at age 32.
The third India-England Test begins right here on February 24.

The right-arm tempo bowler, who does not play white ball sequence, says he’ll give all of it for India to qualify for the World Test Championship closing, to be performed in June, as it’s akin to a ICC 50-over World Cup closing for a Test specialist.
“At the moment, the next target is to win the next game. I just want to win the next game and [help India] qualify for the Test championship final. As I always say I have only one format to play and this is like World Cup. The World Test Championship is like a World Cup for me. If we reach the final and win this, I think I will have the same feeling like you play the ICC World Cup final or the Champions Trophy,” Sharma advised the media on Monday.
Sharma mentioned an India tempo bowler, reaching Kapil Dev’s document of 131 Tests isn’t on his thoughts but and added that enjoying one format had made it simpler to achieve the 100-Test mark shortly.
“If you think of it in a positive way, then it gets easier and is better that I performed in one format. You are grateful. This (playing one format) is also why I am playing the 100th Test. But I don’t think that if I had played white ball cricket, I wouldn’t have played 100 Test matches. I am just 32. Maybe I wouldn’t have done it so quickly, I would have done it later,” mentioned the right-arm quick bowler from Delhi.

Sharma mentioned he takes one sport at a time.
“I don’t really think too far ahead, because you never know what comes next. You just think about one game at a time. I have understood my body and what kind of training I need to do. I am more professional regarding my recovery. Earlier, I used to train very hard but I never used to think about my recovery. Now though I know that as you grow older, you have to bowl long spells. You need to look after your recovery. I am looking after myself. I think that is paying off,” he mentioned.
Sharma may have performed his a hundredth Test in Australia have been it not for a facet pressure throughout the Indian Premier League (IPL) that stored him out of that tour. He, nonetheless, says that he hadn’t allowed that to upset him.
“I would have loved to go to Australia and complete my 100th Test match. But there are many things that are not in your hand. I couldn’t go to Australia because of that [injury]. The quicker you forget things and move on, the more things become simple in life. This is what I have learnt in my career. Forget everything and move on and don’t think about past. I move on to the next match. And I always focus on the next match,” mentioned the bowler who has been affected by a number of accidents over time.
The tempo bowler’s efficiency has been distinctive over the past three years. Since the beginning of 2018, he has taken 76 wickets in 20 Test matches at a median of 19.34 with 4 of his 11 five-wicket hauls in his profession coming throughout that interval.
“I just played too many Test matches outside India that is why I have been able to take these many wickets, because if you don’t bowl in India, how will you take wickets. In India, spinners bowl a lot; fast bowlers’ role is different. Most of the Tests in last two years, we played outside. That is why I bowled a lot and picked wickets. That is what I feel.”