Ishant Sharma reveals intentions behind comical 'face-off' against Steve Smith

Indian cricket team pacer Ishant Sharma recently revealed his intentions behind making comical facial expression at Australian batsman Steve Smith during a Test match in Bengaluru.

In a candid chat with teammate Mayank Agarwal on the latter's new show 'Open Nets with Mayank', Ishant Sharma shed light on how he was trying to make Smith uncomfortable in order to prize his wicket and give India the upper hand in the Test match.

"It was a close game and the series was on the line, we had lost the previous match. The Bengaluru pitch had a lot of up and down about it, he was trying a lot of things and I wanted to upset him. He upsets people a lot because he knows if we can get his wicket then we can win. I was trying to upset him with some tactics and I was trying to make him uncomfortable," Ishant Sharma said.

Virat Kohli loved the aggression: Ishant Sharma

India came into the match at Bengaluru on the back of a loss at Pune and needed to win the second Test to level the series going into the third match of the four Test match series.

Twin half-centuries for KL Rahul and six-wicket hauls for Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin helped India claim an important win, but the real highlight of that game was Ishant Sharma's encounter with Smith.

When further asked about Indian team skipper Virat Kohli's reaction to the whole incident, Ishant Sharma claimed that Kohli loved the aggression that was on display.

"He's an aggressive captain, how much ever aggression you show him, he loves that. He never said anything to me. He's always asked me to do whatever I want but get him a wicket in the end," Ishant Sharma added.