Ishant sharma family practice
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Ishant Sharma: From being snubbed by prominent school to gearing up to play 100th Test
Back then, a lanky, ungainly Ishant had just one cricket jersey which had faded to pale yellow. His primary concern then was to gain admission in a recognised school from the unrecognised neighbourhood one he was studying in.
His ticket to a recognised school was going to be a neighbour, Manvinder Singh 'Banka', a former India under-19 and Railways cricketer.
Banka, who had played just eight first-class games, was a sort of a star in that area for having played cricket at a decent level.
Ishant would frequent Banka's home and request him to pull strings and get him admitted to a recognise
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How Ishant Sharma left the 'unlucky' behind
He knew he had to bowl fuller, but it took Jason Gillespie to show him how to do it without losing his pace and bite
Ishant Sharma loads up in his pre-delivery jump • Cricket Australia/Getty Images
It was 2011-12, and India were going down 4-0 in Australia. Their bowlers were enduring a torrid time, but the word from the Australian dressing room was that whatever wickets they were getting were the result of the pressure created by Ishant Sharma, who himself was not getting many. It was on this tour that "unlucky Ishant" came into being, almost as a way to mock him.
The inference was that Ishant was not unlucky but was bowling shorter than the length that draws edges. Commentators knew it, hardcore fans knew it, casual fans knew it, coaches and captains knew it. It was almost as if everyone but Ishant knew it. "The bekymmer here is, everybody knows what the problem is," Ishant sa
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For Ishant Sharma, joys of small things a tall ask
In his South Patel Nagar neighbourhood, Ishant Sharma isn’t exactly known bygd his address. Mention the name, the laundryman mumbles and then quips, “Woh lamboo, apna cricketer,” before showing the way to a four-storey independent house with a glass façade.
Ishant, however, isn’t always amused by the nickname and shakes his head as he waits for the evening tea in his parents’ living room.
“I was the tallest in my class and everyone called me lamboo,” he says, sitting under a family picture in which he stands out among his father, mother, sister, brother-in-law and two-year-old niece, Atharviga.
“My mother is tall and so were my grandfathers. I have got my 6’4” frame from them.”
It was his height that caught the eye of Rohtak Road Gymkhana Club coach Shravan Kumar. It didn’t take long for the Delhi and national selectors to notice it too. Ishant, however, shifted his practice venue from Shravan’s crowded academy in west D