INDIA FAST BOWLER Ishant Sharma has been under immense limelight in the past few days. Not only was he lauded for his performance in Sri Lanka, but also criticized for his altercation with the Lankan players that led to a one-match ban for the pacer.
However, Ishant’s coach Shravan Kumar attributes this behaviour to the team atmosphere in the dressing room. According to Kumar, it was because of the talks of captain Virat Kohli and team director Ravi Shastri that resulted in Ishant becoming uncontrollably aggressive. The team management has been constantly emphasizing on the need to be “aggressive” in their approach towards the game, which resulted in the Delhi pacer to lose his calm.
Ishant was earlier fined 65 percent of his match fees for twice breaching ICC’s Code of Conduct in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Colombo. In the third Test at the SSC, Ishant was once again in trouble, as he got into an altercation with Lankan bowler, Dhammika Prasad. Even though India won the match by 117 runs and the series 2-1, the fast bowler was slapped with a ban, which means he will miss India’s 1st Test against South Africa in November.
“Ishant crossed the limit this time. Sledging is a part of the game, but by making gestures he invited more trouble from the match referee. I think he got carried away with the dressing room atmosphere, especially when you have a captain and Team Director who talk so much about aggression. He was never so aggressive as a child”, Kumar was quoted by Mid-Day.
"I will definitely ask him to control his aggression. By now, he must have realised that he is the one who suffered in this incident. The team management hasn’t come forward to request the match referee to remove his ban. Ishant needs to be counselled and learn the art of sledging, which is a very subtle act”, he added.
Virat Kohli, on the other hand, said Ishant’s aggression was perfectly timed for the Indian team.