How can one forget the iconic incident of Ishant Sharma mocking Steve Smith during the 2017 Test match at Bengaluru?
However, the Indian speedster has finally revealed the reason why he did it during the second Test of the four-match series against the Aussie.
Ishant’s on-field antics also left skipper Virat Kohli in splits, and he was seen laughing out loudly in the slip-cordon.
“It was a close game, people tend to do things after getting swayed by emotions, you do anything to upset the batsmen, whatever I could do to upset him, I did that, Smith upsets the bowlers a lot, we know if we dismissed him, then we could go on win the match,” Ishant told his teammate Mayank Agarwal, on the series ‘Open Nets with Mayank’ hosted by bcci.tv.
“I was just trying to upset him and was thinking how to do it, I was just trying to get him out of the comfort zone, I was just trying to make him uncomfortable,” Ishant added.
The Delhi-lad also mentioned that Kohli loves the moment where any member of the Indian cricket team shows aggression on the field.
“Virat is an aggressive caption, he loves it whenever you show aggression, he just said do whatever you want to, just don’t get banned,” Ishant added further.
When Mayank asked the Indian pacer whether he will do the same to Smith when Team India tour Australia later this year, he replied: “I am at a stage where I am looking to enjoy my cricket, I am enjoying my cricket, I am more focused to take wickets and win the match for India.”
During the 2017 series, India lost the first Test at Pune but came back strongly to win the second and fourth Tests and clinched the series 2-1.
In the Bengaluru Test, India were defending a modest total of 187 but still managed to seal the game by 75 runs.
