CHENNAI: Ishant Sharma has been threatening to take the mantle of India’s leadpacer since he made Ricky Ponting dance to his tunes in Perth. His brilliance came to the fore when Australia toured India in 2008, walking away with the Man of the Series award.
On a sweltering afternoon in Galle in 2008, despite the presence of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, he rattled Sri Lanka on a track where pacers contributed little. He is the only player in the current squad to have won a series in a country other than Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies. And it was he who did all the damage in Hamilton in 2009 on what was a good Day 1 batting track. He led from the front in Nagpur (2010) too, against the same Kiwis after Sreesanth had broken their top-order.
While most players stayed put at home after the 2011 World Cup euphoria, Ishant went to the Caribbean, this time helping India save their face in Bridgetown with a 10-wicket haul. Even in the 4-0 whitewashes in England and Australia, he was tasked with bowling restrictive lines in order to cover up for the damages done in the opposite end. He was at it again at Lord’s four years back, bouncing out England’s batsmen for fun as India pulled off a heist when nobody expected them to. Ishant, went to Sri Lanka, and again won a Test with his bowling, this time at Colombo.
Then as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami joined the pace battery, Ishant was at times confined to the bench. On responsive tracks, he saw the rest bag wickets. His role was to forget picking up wickets and bowl defensive lines with a field to back him up. Asking the seniormost bowler to not aim for wickets, but stop runs is an idea you can only pitch to Ishant. He has no ego over what he is asked to perform. But that is what makes him special.
It gets exciting when he is given the licence to go for the kill, like he was told to in Edgbaston on Friday. He is the supposed new-ball bowler, but on Thursday, he saw his captain throw the ball to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who is India’s best new ball bowler, statistically and otherwise, in Bhuvneshwar’s absence. Ishant had to wait almost till the first drinks break to get the red cherry in his hand. India needed wickets. Ashwin was going to bowl unchanged, probably till his shoulders gave up, but with Shami not as convincing, it all came down to Ishant.
With Ashwin attacking from one end, many thought Ishant would try and restrict the English from his end. But with Dawid Malan in, it allowed Ishant to use his natural angle — taking the ball away from the left-hander and trying to force a nick. Malan kept playing and missing as Ishant smelled blood. Then to Jonny Bairstow, he bowled the perfect length, where it is difficult for the batsman to commit to front or back foot. For a batsman, it is the most irritating spot to bowl at.
He is unsure of what to do given the inswingers can come back in sharply. In his fifth over, he finally had Malan, caught at gully, having squared him up from around the wicket. In his next delivery, he got Bairstow edging twice, but was not lucky enough to add to his wickets column. And then came that one over.
Three wickets — Bairstow, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler — through an inswinger, outswinger and one that straightened after pitching.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com
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