Ishant Sharma has passed his fitness Test after sitting out with injury for the past few months and that means he will be available for selection during the forthcoming Test series against New Zealand. That is a big boost for the Induan bowling unit as he has been a totally different bowler over the last few years.
In fact, Ishant is someone who gets overshadowed a lot ever since Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have started firing on all cylinders in Tests for India during the last couple of years.
While Bumrah and Shami have been ruthless fast bowling engines in all conditions, Ishant is someone who has been as good as them when it comes to bowling in overseas Conditions.
Since 2018, Ishant is the fourth highest wicket-taker in away Tests. Only Bumrah, Shami and Pat Cummins have taken more than his tally of 48 wickets. However, when we compare their other metrics such as bowling average, economy rate and strike-rate, Ishant has been as good as Bumrah and Cummins, and even better than Shami.
| Most wickets in away Tests since 2018 | |||||
| Players | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy rate | Strike-rate |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 12 | 62 | 19.24 | 2.64 | 43.7 |
| Mohammed Shami | 14 | 56 | 26.01 | 3.28 | 47.5 |
| Pat Cummins | 9 | 51 | 20.41 | 2.83 | 43.1 |
| Ishant Sharma | 12 | 48 | 20.50 | 2.64 | 46.5 |
| Suranga Lakmal | 12 | 44 | 22.90 | 2.40 | 57.0 |
Ishant’s economy rate in overseas Tests during this period has been exactly identical to that of Bumrah and his average has also been marginally higher. The fact that he has picked up far lesser number of wickets than him can be explained by the number of overs Bumrah and Ishant have bowled during this period.
Despite playing the same number of matches, Bumrah has bowled a total of 451.5 overs whereas Ishant has delivered 372.4. So that’s around 80 overs lesser than what Bumrah has bowled and that explains Ishant’s lesser tally of wickets.