Pacer Ishant Sharma is certainly one of the ace pacers to have played the game for the Indian cricket team. He is the only pacer after former captain Kapil Dev to represent India in 100 Test matches. Sharma last played for India during a home series against New Zealand in 2021.
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The right-arm pacer is mainly known for his stints in Test cricket only. He will be playing for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023, he went unsold in last year’s auction after he failed to impress in IPL 2021 (one wicket in three matches). Delhi Capitals had bought him at his base price of INR 50 Lacs.
There was a time in between Sharma was struggling to find his feat in Test cricket as well, but under the captaincy of Indian batter Virat Kohli, Sharma delivered brilliantly in 2018 (41 wickets in 18 matches) and 2019 (25 wickets in 6 matches). However, Covid came in 2020, and he struggled in 2021 as well.
Has Ishant Sharma retirement been announced?
The tall pacer has still not announced his retirement from international cricket. Sharma even played in the recent Ranji Trophy for Delhi, where he got injured after playing just one match. He has played in 105 Tests, where he has scalped 311 wickets at an average of 32.40.
It is to be seen whether Sharma can make a comeback or not, but he is certainly not retired yet. Sharma recently revealed that he is not much fussed about his comeback in the Indian team.
Ishant Sharma’s ‘lowest moment’ in career
In a recent interview with Cricbuzz, Sharma revealed that conceding 30 runs against Australia in an ODI match in Mohali was the lowest moment in his career. Australia needed 44 runs in the last 18 balls, but Sharma conceded five sixes in the 48th over. He revealed that he used to take with his wife (then girlfriend) every day.
“My lowest moment was that 2013 match in Mohali against Australia. I don’t know if I could ever have moment worse than that because I was…I don’t know. I was dating my wife at that time and I just spoke to her and I think I just cried for almost a month,” Ishant Sharma revealed.
Sharma played his last Test in 2021, but his last white-ball match came in 2016 against Australia in an ODI match. He has scalped 115 ODI wickets in 80 matches and 8 T20I wickets in 14 matches.
The way he announced himself during the 2007-08 Australian tour is still fresh in cricket fans’ minds. Over the years, Sharma matured as a pacer during his career, and he made a formidable trio along with Indian pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.
