India fast bowler Ishant Sharma picked up two wickets for Sussex after scoring a half-century against Leicestershire in the County Championship.

Sharma had a great start to his county season as he picked up five wickets in the match against Warwickshire. In Leicester, the Delhi fast bowler continued his fine form as he teamed up with lower order batsman Michael Burgess (101 not out) to stitch together a 153-run stand for the eighth wicket.

The fast bowler hit six boundaries and one six in his knock of 66 as Sussex made 438 for eight.

Sharma then accounted for the opening batsmen Paul Horton and captain Michael Carberry, getting both batsmen out lbw.

Sharma was happy to register his best score with the bat but admitted he was more pleased with his efforts with the ball.

He said after the match: “I think I got my highest previous score in a Test match, so I’m pretty happy – I wanted to do as well as I could for the team.

“Every bowler loves to have a bat, and in internationals you don’t get that many opportunities, especially for India, so I was looking forward to having an opportunity. I didn’t get nervous when I got close to 50, I wasn’t really thinking about it, just staying in my space.

“My main job is to take wickets, so I was probably more pleased about that.”