EARLY LIFE :
Ishant Sharma was born on 2 September 1988.
He is a 6 ft 5 in tall right-arm fast-medium bowler. At 18, Sharma was called to join the Indian squad for the tour of South Africa in 2006–07. However, he was deselected after receiving the call and organising travel arrangements. About his height and lean physique in his Under-19 days, the bowler was nicknamed Lambu.
CAREER :
Ishant plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and has taken 68 wickets in 14 first-class games, including a five-wicket haul against Baroda on the opening day of a match Delhi drew after failing to bowl Baroda out on the fourth day.
Ishant toured England with the India Under-19s in 2006 and Pakistan in 2006–07. He played three youth tests and six youth One Day Internationals for India. Based on his strong performance in Australia in 2008, Ishant Sharma was bought for a winning bid of $950,000 by Kolkata Knight Riders in the player auction for the Indian Premier League. This was the highest amount paid for any bowler in the tournament.
On 15 February 2018, it was officially announced that Ishant would join Sussex CCC for the first two months of the 2018 county season, available from 4 April to 4 June 2018, thus making him the 9th Indian to play for Sussex.
On 10 February 2008, Sharma bagged four crucial wickets in the 4th ODI of the CB Series against Australia. He ended the match with figures of 4/38 and was named Man of the Match. He scalped two crucial wickets on 18 February 2008 versus Australia in the 7th ODI of the CB series.
During the 2008 Test series against Australia in India, Ishant was the leading wicket-taker, with 16, and was named man-of-the-series as India won 2–0. He thereby became the first Indian paceman to win such an award in a Test series on Indian soil after Kapil Dev, who won the award in 1983. He was noted for achieving reverse swing on balls sometimes as young as eight overs, and along with senior opening bowler Zaheer Khan, troubled the touring Australians. He took Australian captain Ricky Ponting’s wicket three times during the series, and six times in as many Tests, making the Indian press label Ponting as Ishant’s bunny.
However, in 2009, Ishant’s form slumped, and he was dropped for the second Test against Sri Lanka and replaced by Sreesanth.
On 5 October 2010, Ishant helped VVS Laxman pull off an improbable win over Australia by one wicket in the first Test in Mohali after India had fallen to 8/124 in pursuit of 205. Ishant supported Laxman during an 81-run partnership in which he contributed 31 valuable runs.
5-wicket haul against West Indies in the 1st Test match of India tour of West Indies 2019, at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, with figures of 5/43 in the 1st innings. In the 2nd Test match of the same series, batting at No.9, Ishant hit his first half-century in Test Cricket. In February 2021, Ishant completed his 100th Test match against England in the third Test match (2nd day/night Test in India) of the England Tour of India at the Motera Stadium. Ishant Sharma became the only the 4th Indian bowler to play 100 test matches, the legendary Kapil Dev being the only fast bowler to achieve the feat.
PERSONAL LIFE :
Ishant Sharma comes from a Brahmin family. On 10 December 2016, he married Indian basketball player Pratima Singh.
