Indian right-arm fast bowler, Ishant Sharma is one of the best fast bowlers India has ever produced. Ishant’s journey in the Indian cricket is very fascinating. He was promoted to play only test cricket from the white ball cricket but as Rohit and Rahul Dravid took over, they left him out of the equation, and now he is not playing for any team in IPL also. So here are some reasons why Ishant Sharma was not picked in the IPL 2023 auction.
Ishant Sharma is a very well-known fast bowler in Indian cricket history. He has represented India in all three formats. He has also played for his home team Delhi Capitals in IPL. Ishant played in 93 IPL matches in which he had 72 wickets with the best bowling figure of 5/12. Ishant last played in IPL 2021 for Delhi Capitals. He played only one match in that season against Punjab Kings.
It is for the second time that the Delhi boy went unsold in the IPL auction. He was unsold in the 2022 mega auction and now he went unsold in the 2023 mini auction also. It looks like no team wants him now. The reason for Ishant’s not getting any bids can be his age because every franchise looks to get young and talented players who came stay with them for a longer duration but in Ishant’s case, he is already 34 now.
The second reason can be his performance for the Indian team. When Virat was the captain and Ravi Shastri was the coach, they both wanted him to play for the test team no matter what. Even Dhoni made him an all-format bowler when he was leading team India. But as soon as Rohit and Dravid took over, they both left him out of the equation and focused on young bowlers. He was kept out from the test format too in which he was a regular bowler. Ishant played 105 tests, 80 ODIs, and 14 T20Is in which he had 434 international wickets.
Ishant was in 50 lakhs base price in the 2023 auction. He was last seen in a Ranji trophy match.
This is what Ishant said about getting sold or unsold in an IPL auction, “To be honest, I have stopped thinking about all these things. Once I go back home, I have my family, they love me. I have my dogs; they don’t really care what I do on a field. I have my wife, my parents, and my friends, they just see me as Ishant and not as a cricketer.
“I just enjoy my life,” he added further. “I don’t care about whether I am wanted or unwanted anywhere. I am still playing this game because I love playing cricket. When I started bowling fast, I did so because I enjoyed it, not because someone wanted or someone disliked me. Honestly, I don’t care about all these things and don’t want to care about it either.”
