I was stunned: Ishant Sharma reveals what MS Dhoni told him during his last Test match

Ishant Sharma has come a long way from the lanky young fast bowler who used to go wicketless in Test matches despite bowling well to one of the greatest pacer India ever had in that format. If he gets picked in the playing eleven for the third Test against England, which will be a day-night affair, he will reach a new milestone in an already decorated career.

He will be playing his 100th Test match, only the second Indian pacer to do so after Kapil Dev. He will also become the fourth Indian bowler to achieve the feat, the other two players being former leg-spinner Anil Kumble and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Before the game, Ishant had a fun chat with teammate Ravichandran Ashwin on YouTube where he talked about the time when he spent time with former India captain MS Dhoni and shared an anecdote from the last Test series of 'Captain Cool'. Dhoni retired after the 2014-15 away Test series against Australia.

He said, “I felt very bad (on MS Dhoni’s retirement). I had taken many injections for that Melbourne Test (the third match of the series) because I was experiencing severe pain in my knee. I did not know that Mahi bhai was going to retire. In fact, nobody knew that he was going to retire. So, I was taking an injection every session."

Credit: Game will change session wise, says Ishant Sharma on Pink ball Test

When it was almost end of the Day 4 of the Test, Ishant informed Dhoni that he could not take injections anymore. Dhoni, being a proper team man, told Ishant that there was no need for him to take injections further. And then as a postscript, Dhoni added, "Lambu tune mujhe Test match mein chhod diya’ (you have deserted me in a Test match). As a stunned Ishant tried to fathom those words, he added, "You left me midway in my last Test match."

Ishant said that he was shocked after Dhoni told him about the decision. "I was stunned. I told him if I knew I would definitely have continued to play. So that was a really touching story. I didn’t know till the last day that he was retiring, ” he said.

Dhoni was known in the international arena as a man who cared little about the numbers, and Ishant confirmed the validity of that reputation. He said that Dhoni could have played the 100 Test matches, but he was always nonchalant when it came to records. In Ishant's words, "I remember he told me when we were in England that it is not important for him to play hundred Test matches. Instead, he felt that we need to start grooming Wriddhiman Saha. That’s why he took the sudden decision to retire, I feel.”