Indian cricket team's lanky speedster Ishant Sharma recently became the recipient of the Arjuna Award for his outstanding achievement in cricket. The senior speedster finally received the honor after working hard for the last 13 years. The veteran was named among the 27 Arjuna Awardees as part of National Sports Awards 2020. ALSO WATCH | TKR Captain Kieron Pollard Hits MASSIVE One-Handed Sixes In CPL 2020
Apart from Ishant Sharma, Indian women's star spinner Deepti Sharma was the only cricketer to be conferred with the Arjuna Award. Ishant's teammate Rohit Sharma became the fourth Indian cricketer after Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar to be conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest sporting honor.
In a video posted by BCCI, Ishant Sharma revealed that that his wife Pratima Singh always wanted him to bag the honour. During an interview in Cricbuzz's show Spicy Pitch, Ishant Sharma had revealed that he fell in love with his wife Pratima Singh, the moment he spotted her at a basketball event in 2011.
"When I got to know that I will receive the Arjuna award, I was happy and very proud of myself. For the last 13 years, I did a lot of hard work. It is a proud moment for me and my family. More than me, my wife is really proud of me because more than me she is the one who really thinks I should get that award (sic)," Ishant Sharma said in the video.
The 'calm and composed' Ishant was just 18-years-old when he received the call to join for team India against South Africa for 2006-07 tour. In 2011, the Delhi-born became the 5th youngest fast-bowler to take 100 Test wickets. What made Ishant unique was his ability to ball upto 150 km/h during the early days of his cricketing career.