England vs India 2014 - 3rd Test: Ishant Sharma's injury update
India’s medium pacer Ishant Sharma is nursing a sore leg and hence missed playing in the 3rd Test between England and India, bowling coach Joe Dawes informed. The 25-year-old bowler failed to make it to the playing XI for the third Test after his record-breaking spell of 7/74 in his side’s historic 95-run win at Lord’s.
"Ishant has a sore leg. We need to do a few more Tests, but we have 11 days before for the next Test, so we will watch him carefully. Pankaj (Singh) was named in the first 12 on Saturday. Ishant had a bowl on the Sunday morning before toss, but he felt sore and then around 10.20 am (about ten minutes before toss), it was decided," Dawes said after the first day's play hinting that resting the Delhi-lad was a precautionary measure and a last minute move.
Unlucky Pankaj Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s off day
Pankaj Singh took Ishant’s place in the side and was unlucky not to have a couple of wickets against his name on the first day of his debut. Commenting on the outcome in which England made the best use of the conditions, the Australian coach stated that Bhuvneshwar’s off-day had some effect apart from luck playing its part.
"Maybe it was not the best day for our bowling attack, but Pankaj coming through was a real positive for us. He could have easily got a couple of wickets, but things didn't go his way,” mentioned Dawes on Alastair Cook and Ian Bell’s fortunes. Cook was dropped by Ravindra Jadeja earlier in the day and Bell survived a leg-before appeal – both of Pankaj Singh.
“Bhuvneshwar had an off day. We are working on the consistency of our bowlers," the 43-year-old said.
Answering whether the news about team spending the night before the Test with former West Indian pacer Michael Holding is true: “Yes, we had dinner with Michael Holding and the bowlers had a lot of questions for him. It was a good time spent with the royalty of fast bowling," Dawes said.
"It is a new cordon and the ball wobbles a bit here in England after going past the bat. They are working hard as a group. Even Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor dropped a few in their time," Dawes concluded on the costly miss by Jadeja in the slips.