INDIA TOUR OF ENGLAND, 2018

Ishant, the ungrudging pack hunter

by Vishaal Loganathan • Last updated on

Ishant Sharma picked up his eighth Test-match fifer on Day 3 of the Birmingham Test. © Getty

Just as Ishant Sharma was walking out after he'd helped bowl England out for 180, he was tossed the ball by umpire Chris Gaffaney. Before he could get it, KL Rahul swooped in to sneak it away and made a dash. For a moment, Ishant gave chase too, but pulled up realising it was all in jest. Ishant had bowled his heart out, ended with his eighth fifer in 83 Tests, and put India on the cusp of a famous, historic win. And nobody could snatch that ball away just like that.

He eventually got it back, and waved it around to an audience that applauded generously. But those few moments, and that wait for his moment in the sun, sort of encapsulated Ishant's struggle. Struggle for, and with the Indian team.

Ishant is 83 Tests old, including this one in Edgbaston. Only 98 others in the history of Test cricket have played as many as him. Of that, only 25 were frontline bowlers (leaving out Kallis and Sobers). But here's the downside. He has the worst numbers, in terms of wickets, of those 25 after 83 Tests. He has 244 wickets, while the next worst is Daniel Vettori with 257. 20 others had 300 or more. 10 had 350 or more. Three were 400+.

Just as Ishant was handed the ball to bowl in the second innings, Harbhajan Singh on air lamented how Ishant has failed to live up to his promise. He said, Ishant with so much experience should be winning games for India more consistently and Harbhajan was disappointed that he wasn't.

One one side Ishant's match-winning capabilities were in question. At the other, was R Ashwin - a bowler whose ability to turn games has been highlighted numerous times. It was a weird combination, so to speak, but it worked wonders on the day for India.

"Ishant is a rhythm bowler," said Nasser Hussain. And he hit his rhythm early on the day. He said his bowling coach, Bharat Arun, had asked him to start off around the wickets to the left-handers from the onset. The move worked like a charm.

"In the first innings we had planned to bowl to the left handers from around the wicket. Because to left handers my ball goes away from them, to start from over the wicket but if the ball is swinging then straight away go around the stumps. In the bowling meeting we spoke and bowling coach told me to straight away come round the stumps because the batsman finds it tough to play from that angle because when my ball starts to swing then it is difficult for left handed batsmen," Ishant said at the end of the day.

But for Ishant to get on to a hot streak, it needed the discipline of Ashwin at the other end. The offspinner just doesn't weave magic with his fingers to help India win games, he deeply thinks about how to get the batsmen out and works towards the plan with near-perfect execution.

Keaton Jennings was a case in point. When Ashwin pitched the ball up on middle hoping to effect another Alastair Cook-type dismissal, he found Jennings using his height to sweep. Ashwin responded later with a full harmless looking ball on off that Jennings was able to defend with ease. The next ball was slower and had a lot more revolutions on it, and it was slightly wider. Jennings took the bait, and played the same defence, only to edge it to slip. To Root as well, Ashwin persisted with the big turning off spinner towards leg stump. Eventually, Root sent it to leg slip.

And just as Ishant started to wreak havoc on the England middle order, Ashwin realised the need to play the hold-up role. Ishant's round-the-wicket tactic started to trouble Dawid Malan with balls that would leave him after coming in with the angle.

Ashwin ensured that he did his bit by not over attacking from his end, and instead by keeping things tidy. His first five overs, with Ishant bowling in tandem, cost the team only six runs. It allowed the pacer to settle into a rhythm and then rattle England.

And when he got there, Ishant blew away England in the space of 15 balls. Malan finally succumbed to the one that left him, getting squared up and edging to gully. Jonny Bairstow edged to Dhawan, while Ben Stokes was again squared up while edging to third slip. Ishant came back after Lunch to see Buttler feather an edge through to the 'keeper.

It was the burst India were desperate for. And Ishant had delivered. For all the talk of having so much experience and yet not becoming the big wicket taker, the lanky pacer had produced a spell that would be remembered with fondness.

In the first innings, even as Ishant started off with a superb spell with the new ball, Umesh Yadav was leaking runs at the other end. That meant that the batsmen could play out Ishant safely and collect runs at the other end. Ishant's effectiveness reduced soon after, and his bowling in the innings was not all great.

And it happened again. Soon after Ishant's burst, Ashwin was taken off the attack and Mohammed Shami was brought in. Shami gave away 15 in his three overs bowling alongside Ishant, and Ishant lost his sharpness

After Ishant had got the ball for completing his eighth fifer in Tests, he waited for the rest of the team to catch up. Particularly, it was the others in the bowling department that he needed to see, and they arrived, as they do in the batting order, at the very end. Ishant had a hug and a high five from each of them.

Perhaps he knows, as today, he would need his bowling partners to bowl well alongside for him to be at his effective best. Perhaps, then, there will be a lot more of such Ishant spells, and a lot less of why he still struggles to be India's main wicket-taking pace bowler.

© Cricbuzz

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