Ishant Sharma
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| Height | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right arm fast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Bowler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 258) | 25 May 2007 v Bangladesh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 29 October 2008 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 169) | 29 June 2007 v South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 6 July 2008 v Sri Lanka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006/07–present | Delhi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008–present | Kolkata Knight Riders | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 08 November 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ishant Sharma (born 2 September 1988, in Delhi, India), is an Indian cricketer, more specifically a right arm fast bowler at pace around 145 km/h (90 mph) He delivered the fastest ball ever bowled by an Indian bowler when he clocked 152.6 km/h (94.8mph) at Adelaide against Australia on 17 February 2008. Also, in the process, he became the first Indian to bowl over 150 km/h. He has a high arm delivery action and is able to move the ball in both directions. At the age of 18, Sharma was called to join the Indian squad for the tour of South Africa in 2006-07. However, after receiving the call and organizing travel arrangements, it was decided not to send him on the tour.[1] He has then grabbed all the opportunities that came to his hand and succeeded in both forms of the game. He has earned the nickname Lambu, which refers to his lean and tall build, measuring 192 cm (6' 5"). [2]
Domestic & First-Class Career
Ishant plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and has taken 19 wickets in four first class games, including a five-wicket haul against Baroda on the opening day of a match Delhi drew after failing to bowl Baroda out on the fourth day.[3]
Ishant toured England with the India Under-19s in 2006 and Pakistan in 2006–07. He has played three youth Tests and six youth One-day Internationals for India, and is yet to lose a match for them.
Rise in International Cricket
In May 2007, he was selected in the test team for the Bangladesh tour and played as a replacement for the fast bowler Munaf Patel. Over there he played for his national side in the second test where he bowled 3 overs including one maiden and conceded only five runs without taking a wicket.[4] Later on, he was called for the tour of England in July-August 2007.
Ishant Sharma got a call back in the team in the 3rd Test Match during Pakistan's tour of India in December 2007 due to injury of India's frontline pacers Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, and Sreesanth.[5] On the batting paradise pitch, Sharma toiled hard for cementing and securing his place permanently in the Indian team while picking 5 wickets during the third test in Bangalore.[6] This performance earned him a place in India's squad for the tour of Australia.
Sharma was left out in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as India retained their main fast bowlers, Zaheer Khan and RP Singh. However, in January 2008 Sharma was called to represent India once again to replace the injured Zaheer Khan in the second test at the SCG. Sharma started the first day of the match strongly and was involved in a controversial decision from Steve Bucknor when Andrew Symonds nicked the ball to keeper MS Dhoni off his bowling but was given not out. He bowled reasonably in the match, however without much luck.
Although he had little success, the management retained him for the third test match at Perth. On the fourth day of the match he bowled an exceptional spell to Australian captain Ricky Ponting that resulted in his wicket and helped India claim victory.[7] He used the pace and bounce of the WACA wicket to trouble the batsmen. In the following test played in Adelaide he picked up two wickets and impressed everyone with his bowling. He didn't bowl above 140-145 km/h mark in the test matches so that he could bowl longer spells as needed in this version of the game.He clocked a highest of 147.7 km/h(91.1 mph) at the Adelaide test his highest till then.
On February 10, 2008, Sharma bagged four important wickets in the 4th ODI of CB Series against Australia. He ended up with the figures of 4/38 and claimed the man of the match award.[8] He scalped two important wickets on February 18, 2008 versus Australia in the 7th ODI of CB series..[9]
Achievements & Abilities
Ishant Sharma has been focusing on becoming a Fast bowler rather than Medium Pacer. He bowled a 149.5 km/h delivery versus Australia in Melbourne on February 10, 2008. At that time he was just 0.2 km/h short of fastest ball ever bowled by Indian. The record holder was Ashish Nehra who bowled at 149.7 km/h versus Zimbabwe at World Cup 2003. However, Ishant was successful in breaking the record just a week after he got close to it, versus Australia in Melbourne on February 17, 2008. His fastest ball was 153.0 km/h and he constantly clocked around that 152 km/h mark.[10]
Sharma has quite a high-arm action attacking on and around the batsman's off-stump (the corridor of uncertainty) which gives him the ability to nip the ball back in to right-handed batsman and also swing it through the air quite considerably, while extracting a great deal of bounce. Some critics have compared him to the 1980s' West Indian fast bowlers, especially the legendary Curtly Ambrose. He has also been compared to the Indian Fast bowler Javagal Srinath.
Ishant Sharma was the discovery of the tour Down Under. He troubled some of the Australian batsmen with his bowling. This led Australian skipper Ricky Ponting to admit that Ishant Sharma is dangerous.[11]On the basis of his recent strong performance in Australia, Ishant Sharma was lapped up for an astounding winning bid of $950,000 by Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan for his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders in the player auction for the IPL twenty20.This was the highest amount paid for any bowler in IPL. tournament.[12]
References
- ^ Ishant won't be going to SA, by Anand Vasu, Cricinfo, 27 December 2006
- ^ "Speedster Ishant Sharma earns Curtly Ambrose comparison". Herald and Weekly Times. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ Ishant scalps five as Jadhav and Kanitkar make merry, by Cricinfo, 9 December 2006
- ^ Ishant Sharma to replace injured Munaf, by Anand Vasu, Cricinfo, 18 May 2007
- ^ Pathan, VRV and Ishant drafted in, by Cricinfo, 5 December 2007
- ^ Misbah and Ishant light up the day, by Dilip Premchandran, Cricinfo, 11 December 2007
- ^ Ishant savour spell to Ponting, by Siddharth Vaidyanathan, Cricinfo, 20 January 2008
- ^ Australia v India, February 10, 2008, MCG, by Cricinfo, 10 February 2008
- ^ Australia v India, February 18, 2008, Adelaide Oval, by Cricinfo, 18 February 2008
- ^ "Australia clinch low-scoring scrap". Wisden overview. Cricinfo. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
- ^ Ponting admits 'dangerous' Ishant, by Nagraj Gollapudi Cricinfo, 10 February 2008
- ^ Publication | Indian Publication News | Indian Publication Aggregator | Regional Publication News | Leading Publications India
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