India vs Bangladesh 2019: After taking five-for, Ishant Sharma explains how the pink ball behaved differently
After claiming a five-wicket haul (5-22) on the first day of the day-night Test between India and Bangladesh, Ishant Sharma has revealed how differently the pink ball behaved on the pitch. This was just Ishant's second five-for on home soil in 12 years, the first one coming against Pakistan back in 2007.
The match started on a high note for India as Bangladesh got bundled out for just 106 courtesy India's pace trio (Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav). Cheteshwar Pujara and skipper Virat Kohli then scored half-centuries as India stood at 174/3 by the end of Day 1.
Also see - India West Indies schedule
Ishant later talked about his experience with the pink ball, which he believes is significantly different from the red one.
"It was very different. In the start you must have seen that when we bowled a normal length, it wasn't swinging that much. After that we realized what lengths we need to be hitting in order to get some more help. So the three of us (fast bowlers) communicated about hitting the right length," he said.
Having been a pivotal part of India's pace attack for a long time now, Ishant is just four matches away from his 100th Test match. He has clinched 76 wickets in his last 19 outings, and he went on to explain how he has adapted his game over the years while refusing to put pressure on himself.
"I think I'm enjoying my cricket now. Earlier I used to put pressure on myself about performing that I need to take wickets, that I'm only beating the batsman - a lot of things used to run on my mind. Now I don't think too much about those things, just how to take wickets. Obviously I'm experienced so I can assess conditions and adjust my lengths quickly, that makes it easy," he added.
Ishant started the day brilliantly by getting Imrul Kayes LBW, followed by a stunning catch by Wriddhiman Saha to dismiss Mahmudullah in the first session.
He later ran through the tail (Nayeem Hasan, Ebadat Hossain and Mehidy Hassan) with three quick wickets to claim his 10th career five-wicket haul. Ishant spoke at length about the different approach he adopted to increase his chances of success on the first day of the pink-ball Test.
"You must have seen that normally I used to swing it away from the left-hander. So I needed to add a variation. Your game only improves when you bring variety to it and build confidence to bowl those in the match. So I was trying to bowl more of that in practice," he said.
"In this match, the first wicket that I got - Imrul Kayes lbw - I got him with that ball. The two bowled wickets I got were also that ball. The ball lands and stays straight, it doesn't go away from the batsman."
This was just the fourth time in Indian Test history where the pacers took all 10 wickets in an innings at home. Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami supported Ishant well with three and two wickets respectively.
The first day ended with India leading comfortably by 68 runs. Virat Kohli, who is at the crease, will be hoping to extend his team's advantage with a power-packed batting performance that puts the match out of Bangladesh's reach.