It was in 2015, former Indian pacer Ishant Sharma was banned for a Test match during the India tour of Sri Lanka. The 26-year-old at the time, after getting the wicket of Upul Tharanga he gave him a send-off off which was his third offence in three matches. The Delhi pacer recalled the conversation he had with the then Indian Head Coach Ravi Shastri on the matter.
“I was once banned from a Test match. The Test match that I was banned from in Sri Lanka, things got heated up there. Ravi Shastri was our coach in 2015. Everything happened, and while we were having breakfast the next morning, he came up to me and said, ‘Sharm, are you still angry?’. I said, ‘No Ravi bhai’. He said, ‘Bloody, you should be angry’,” Ishant recalled on the YouTube podcast Padamjeet Sehrawat.
“The one special thing about his coaching that I felt was that he knew how to get the performances out of a player. He knew when I was angry or when he saw that I was a bit nervous or had doubts, he would let out a line like that, like a pin, and I would be charged up. He was my charger,” Sharma added.
Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag’s support
Ishant in the podcast also recalled how the current Indian Head Coach had helped him while he was playing for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, and Sehwag when the lanky pacer was playing for the Indian side in overseas conditions.
“There have been different seniors at different stages. When I was playing Ranji Trophy, Gautam Gambhir supported me the most. Then Virender Sehwag. When I played for India, there were so many big names in the dressing room that you were unsure about whom to speak to. You wanted someone with you when you were having a meal in places like Australia and South Africa.”
“I approached Sehwag and he said, ‘What are you tense about? Let’s go’. Sehwag is the kind of senior everyone should get because he is very supportive. If he sees talent in a player, he will make sure that player gets to play. After I felt a bit settled in the Indian team, it was Zaheer Khan. I learnt a lot from him. Then MS Dhoni”.
