Ishant Sharma took nine wickets in the second Test and was named the Man of the Match, as well as the Man of the Series.
Indian pacer Ishant Sharma shined in the side's first-ever pink-ball Test match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata against Bangladesh. The 31-year-old pacer took nine wickets in the game, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings as India cruised to an innings-and-46-run victory over the visitors to secure a 2-0 whitewash. Ishant was also named the Man of the Match, as well as the Man of the Series.
The pacer took 12 wickets in the two-Test series at a staggering average of 10.75. He bowled 48 overs throughout the series.
Talking to Sanjay Manjrekar in the post-match presentation, Ishant jokingly said that his pace compatriot Mohammed Shami asked him to turn out his pockets after a brilliant show in the Day-Night Test.
"Shami told me to give him whatever I'm carrying in my pocket (laughs). We enjoy each others' success as fast bowlers," Ishant said.
Talking about his bowling plans, Ishant insisted that he had been sticking with his plans and also revealed that he had been working on a new variation during the previous Test match in Indore. India's bowling coach, Bharat Arun also talked about the development during the previous Test.
"I'm just hitting the right areas and sticking to my plans. We developed that in the last game (the leg-cutting ball going away from the right-hander from round the wicket) and we had chats with the bowling coach and batting coach who thought it was a fluke, but I bowled that ball deliberately and I did the same this game. When we started it didn't swing and last night it swung and we adjusted to the conditions very well," Ishant said.
Ishant Sharma has now taken 292 wickets in Test cricket so far, and is only eight dismissals shy from becoming the sixth Indian bowler to take 300 wickets in the longest format of the game.
He is the third-highest wicket-taking pacer for the country as well. Only Zaheer Khan (311) and Kapil Dev (434) have taken more wickets than Ishant Sharma.
With the win over Bangladesh, India have strengthened their hold over the first position in the World Test Championship table. The side has 360 points from seven Test matches so far, which is 244 points more than the second-best (Australia).
