“Playing as unit relieves all kinds of pressure,” says the lanky Indian pace-man Ishant Sharma. He got the Man of the match award for his brilliant bowling. He ended up with the figures of 3/33 which allowed Indian bowlers to dominate in the first half of the second semi-final match that was played at Cardiff on Thursday.
He was quoted by Times of India saying, “I just want to carry on my rhythm to the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy rather than making some plans for English batsmen. I am able to extract the bounce which is nagging the batsmen and that’s the actual reward of my hardwork.” India will take on the hosts England on Sunday at Birmingham.
Famous by nick-name of, “Lambu”, pacer was quoted by DNA saying, "If we can bowl to our field and play to our strengths, we will do well against any team. We have not been under pressure in this tournament so far and we really don't know where our real weaknesses lie."
He added, "We are helping each other out, working on our variations and it's great to have Joe Dawes (bowling coach) around. It's a good feeling. I don't want to call myself the leader of the pace attack because we are working hard as a team and Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) and Umesh (Yadav) are bowling well as well. It's team work.”
Ishant was happy that he relished the bounce and conditions that the pitch at Cardiff offered him and was quoted by Deccan Chronicle saying, "The wicket was two paced and there was lot movement and bounce. I am happy that I could find my rhythm and hit the right lengths. It's very important to bowl in the right areas and I am lucky I did it. I am not God that I will bowl like this every day."
He went onto say that, "I was bowling well in the IPL and I am just taking that momentum forward. It's not only about conditions, it's about bowling the right areas and I have been doing this from the IPL."
At the end, he didn’t forget to thank the Captain MS Dhoni who has put a lot of faith in him and was quoted by Hindustan Times saying, "MSbhai is always supporting and it's a pleasure to have him as our captain," adding the team's fielding edge gives a lot of boost to the bowlers. Everyone is charged up. We are getting better as a fielding unit and bowlers are getting that confidence," Ishant said.