With the wicket of Daniel Lawrence on the fourth day of the ongoing Chennai Test between India and England, the veteran Ishant Sharma became only the third Indian pacer after Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan to take 300 scalps in the longer format of the game. The tall and lanky Delhi boy has achieved this milestone in his 98th Test match and for someone, whose career has been marred by injuries, this has been a remarkable achievement.
First came into the international arena way back in 2007-08 as a 140 kmps fast bowler, an 18-year old Ishant had a terrific tour of Australia in which he raised quite a few eyebrows. His spell against Ricky Pointing in Perth is still regarded as one of the most memorable bowling efforts by an Indian pacer on overseas conditions. However, initially it was believed that Ishant’s three-quarter length is ideal for only those pitches where there is some pace and bounce on offer. Later he developed his skills of bowling with the old ball (especially reverse swing), to be effective on slow-low subcontinental conditions and went on to become a permanent member of India’s red-ball set-up.
Ishant Sharma becomes only the third Indian pacer to pick 300 Test wickets! #INDvsENG #TeamIndia #Ishant #TestCricket #cricketnews pic.twitter.com/sTthPzoMto
— Cricket News (@cricketnews_com) February 8, 2021
String from the fag end of Zaheer’s career, Ishant started leading the Indian pace attack. In 2013, he was impressive on the tour of New Zealand, being the top wicket-taker in Tests with 15 wickets that included two five-wicket hauls. On his next overseas assignment, in England, Ishant was the hero of India’s famous win at Lord’s when he bounced out the England batsmen with his spell of 7 for 74. However, since that time things started to go wrong. Captains (both at the India and IPL level) were guilty of over-bowling him and it escalated his injury concerns.
For making a comeback as well as sustaining at the competitive international arena Ishant had to sacrifice his pace – the most crucial aspect of his bowling. However, in order to contemplate that, he developed accuracy and the ability to bowl long spells in red-ball cricket. After 2016 Ishant was kept away from India’s white-ball set-up which made him a Test match ‘specialist’ and in a way the tag benefited the pacer.
By 2017, there was a renaissance in Indian fast bowling. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshawr Kumar, Mohammed Shami and others started to intimidate opponents across conditions. However, despite the arrival of these younger, faster and fitter fast bowlers, Ishant’s place in the XI was never challenged. Whenever he was match fit and available for selection, the team management trusted his experience and skills over the exuberance of the youth and invariably Ishant lived up to the expectations. In fact, his guidance on and off the field started to benefit these young bunch of fast bowlers.
The norm still remains the same. A fit again Ishant was straightway picked in the XI ahead of Mohammed Siraj, who was mightily impressive in Australia and the senior pro justifies his selection with an impressive performance both with the old and new ball on this slow-low dusty Chennai track. Coming back from a long injury break, he has bowled his heart out in this match under some challenging circumstances and that’s why a 32-year old Ishant is the undisputed leader of Indian pace attack.