The Indian fast bowler, Ishant Sharma slept barely four hours in the past two days but kept India in the fight with three New Zealand wickets in the first Test even as he struggled hard to deal with a “jet-lag”. Three weeks ago, he was about to miss the New Zealand series after suffering multiple ligament tears in his right ankle during a Ranji Trophy game but traveled for 24 hours and arrived here 72 hours before the start of the first Test.
Ishant didn’t get to sleep for last two days and struggled a lot on Day 2, but he played the Test only for the team. His uneasiness was the lack of sound sleep that made him struggle on a track that is getting slower and a kookaburra ball whose seam can go soft after 40 overs.
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The veteran pacer further explained, “Not that I wasn’t happy with my bowling. I wasn’t happy with my body as I could only sleep for 40 minutes last night and day before the Test match, I slept for three hours. The more you can recover (from jet lag), the better effort you can put in on the ground. There’s no better recovery than a sound sleep.”
According to Ishant, he didn’t even think about playing the Test match, when he had sustained a freak injury. He also credited the support staff of NCA for working hard with him as people earlier said ‘he is out for six weeks’.
Ishant said he started his rehabilitation with an open mind. He said, “I didn’t have any target that I have to play a Test. I thought ‘okay, if it’s possible to play, I will play but if it’s not, there’s hardly anything I could have done’. Because of the way I got injured, I don’t think it had happened with anyone. But if you are destined to get injured, you can slip in the toilet too.”
Asked when he felt he could give it a push for New Zealand tour, the fast bowler said he bowled 21 overs in two days at NCA in Bengaluru to gave his fitness test. On the situation of this match, he said at the start of the second session, it became difficult as the pitch had eased out.
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Talking about the pitch conditions, Ishant said, “Actually, wicket became slow. It had a tennis ball bounce at the start but when we bowled, there was no seam movement. Also for first-timers, the problem in Wellington is getting used to wind which is a big factor. People actually have little idea how to bowl with or against the wind.”
With New Zealand ahead by 51 runs and India still needing to get five wickets, Ishant is hopeful the team can make a comeback.
