Did a lot of hard work for last 13 years: Ishant Sharma on being honored with Arjuna Award

After being selected as the recipient of the prestigious Arjuna Award, Indian cricketer Ishant Sharma expressed that it is a proud moment for him and his family as well. The Indian speedster added that his wife is more proud of him than he himself. Sharma also shed light upon the mindset of Team India's fiery pace attack under Virat Kohli and remarking that the Men in Blue are always gunning for victory. 

In a video posted by the BCCI on Monday, Sharma said, "When I got to know that I was getting Arjuna Award, I was really happy and feeling proud about myself. For the last 13 years, I did a lot of hard work, so it is a proud moment for me and my family. I think more than me, my wife is proud of me because she is the one who really thinks that I should get the award." 

"Mindset of Team India's bowling right now is that we always think how to win a game. That is the most important thing for us, we don't think about individual wickets and we try to read the situation. We prepare well and according to every batsman and try to execute those things," he added. 

READ | Ishant Sharma, Deepti Sharma & Hima Das Recommended For Arjuna Award; Full List Here

Arjuna for Ishant, Rohit Sharma gets Khel Ratna

13 years after making his debut for the Indian Cricket Team, speedster Ishant Sharma has been selected as the recipient of the prestigious Arjuna Award by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. Sharma, who is a consistent player in Virat Kohli's Test cadre, made his debut for Team India in 2007 at the age of 18. The speedster has picked 297 Test wickets, 118 ODI wickets and 8 T20 wickets. The award will be given on August 29 by the President of India. Along with Ishant Sharma, India Women's cricketer Deepti Sharma and sprinter Dutee Chand have also been conferred with the prestigious honour. Meanwhile, opening batsman Rohit Sharma has been honoured with the highest sporting award - the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. 

READ | Hope Ishant Gets Khel Ratna & Padma Awards One Day: Coach Shravan Kumar

Arjuna Award

The Arjuna Awards are annual honours given by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports to recognize outstanding achievement in sports. The awards which began in 1961, carries a cash prize of ₹5,00,000 and a bronze statue of Arjuna - an Indian mythological warrior in Mahabharata. As per the guidelines, the sportsperson selected should not only have had good performance consistently for the previous four years but should also have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline. Apart from Ishant Sharma, notable cricketers who have been honoured with the award are, Gautam Gambhir, Jhulan Goswami, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Mithali Raj, Harbhajan Singh, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and others. 

READ | Virat Kohli Congratulates Rohit Sharma Over Khel Ratna, Ishant & Deepti For Arjuna

READ | Ravi Shastri Lauds Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma; Pulled Up For Ignoring Deepti Sharma