|| India Correspondent ||
Team India have been playing against England in a full-fledged series where the first Test is taking place in Chennai. Although Team India is in trouble, their pace spearhead Ishant Sharma has returned in the team and has been in good touch as well. However, on Monday, he became the third Indian pace bowler to claim the 300-wicket milestone after Kapil Dev (434 wickets) and Zaheer Khan (311).
However, experienced Ravichandran Ashwin believes Ishant's work ethic has been changed over the last 14 years and he wishes to see him taking 400 wickets in Test cricket as well. Currently, Ishant Sharma is the most-capped Test player in the current line up.
"Look, Ishant has been one of the most hard-working cricketers, that I have seen in that Indian team dressing room. "He has worked extremely hard, for more than just one reason, because being that tall (6 ft 4 inch) itself requires a lot of facets to be managed through a career which is spanned out through almost 14 years now," said Ashwin, who is 14 wickets away of the 400-mark.
"Ishant, who went to Australia and got Ricky Ponting out (in 2007-08), and then has gone through so many other tours, had his fair share of injuries, for a fast bowler to get close to 100 Tests in India is not a joke and it is fantastic fantastic achievement," said the veteran off-spinner. "I can keep going on and keep complimenting Ishant, but I really wish to see him get to 400 and probably 500 wickets, which should be sort of road map for a lot of Indian quicks going forward."
However, he also revealed what Ishant Sharma makes him a special person. He said that his biggest plus point is his smile. He also added that even he is very tired, he will be seen smiling. "Today, I jokingly told him that you won't get a bowl. He (Ishant) said that's ok because he was really tired. He is a man with a funny streak," concluded Ashwin.
