Indian pacer Ishant Sharma in a videocast with Deep Dasgupta for ESPN CricInfo said that he never understood things like average and strike-rate and he never relied on them. He also spoke about the support of former Indian captain MS Dhoni.
“MS Dhoni always backed me. Even after my first 50-60 Tests, he never said we’ll look for someone to replace you. To tell you the truth, even after playing 97 Tests, I still don’t understand things like average and strike rate. I’ve never bothered about these things. If I’m not able to understand them, why should I rely on them? It’s just a number after all,” Ishant Sharma said.
Ishant Sharma became one of the front-line bowlers in the longest format of the game. However, the pacer says that he wants to be a part of World Cup winning team.
“Obviously, I would love to play in a World Cup. Actually, I want to be part of a World Cup-winning team, as it will be a different feeling altogether. We are playing the World Test Championship, which is equivalent to a World Cup in Test cricket, but you realize that not a lot of people follow it, while an ODI World Cup is widely followed.”
He represented India in 80 ODIs and has taken 115 wickets at an average of 30.98.
He was close to making it to the Indian World Cup squad in 2015 but an injury forced him out. His last appearance in ODIs came years ago.
