New Delhi: Team India's calm and composed speedster Ishant Sharma recently opened up on certain aspects of his personal life that were not known to his fans. The senior paceman revealed that he fell in love with his wife Pratima Singh, the moment he spotted her at a basketball event in 2011 and was certain that he wanted to marry her.

During an interview in Cricbuzz's new show Spicy Pitch, Ishant said: "I saw Pratima at a local basketball tournament organised by my friend, where I was chief guest. It was love at first sight for me. In fact, I knew I wanted to marry Pratima since Day One."

"I started going to the tournament regularly from the very next day. But, I was shy with her at that time. I would not even talk to her. It was only before an Australia series, I gave her a hint that I need to talk to her on something really important. It took me one year to woo her and only after that, I proposed to her. "


When asked as to who he would love to sledge between Aussie greats Ricky Ponting and Steven Smith, Ishant said, “Steven Smith is the one who I would love to sledge more than Ricky Ponting.”

Team India were fortunate to get services of Test specialist Ishant in the recently concluded two-Test series against Kiwis. It is another story that he had walked into the game not a 100 per cent and ended up sitting out the second game but hurt India more was the failure of India's batting line-up.

As a result, India faced a humiliating 2-0 white-wash against New Zealand. Clearly, it is time the Indian Test batters looked at the issue with utmost seriousness.