IND v AUS 2020: 'Ishant Sharma found his wrists 3-4 years ago' - Manjrekar feels India will miss pacer 'very very badly'
Former middle-order batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has opined that Team India will badly miss the services of Ishant Sharma during the Test series against Australia. He reasoned that the lanky pacer has been at his penetrative and economical best in the last few years.
The commentator made this observation while previewing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the Sony Sports network.
Sanjay Manjrekar started by pointing out that Ishant Sharma not being available for the Test series will be a huge setback for India.
"India will miss Ishant Sharma very very badly because he was the third support bowler."
He reasoned that Ishant Sharma is usually responsible for applying the pressure from one end that enables Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah to strike blows from the other.
"He ensured that the pressure wasn't off. In many ways Mohammed Shami and Bumrah are your seam bowlers and you needed somebody to just keep that line outside the off-stump, be economical keep the pressure on."
Sanjay Manjrekar on Ishant Sharma's growth as a Test bowler
Sanjay Manjrekar observed that Ishant Sharma has been able to bowl with his wrist behind the ball in the last few years. He added that this is something the lanky fast bowler struggled to do in the initial part of his career.
Manjrekar even drew a parallel between Ishant Sharma finding the proper wrist position to Steve Smith and Hardik Pandya finding their hands and the right bat respectively in the recent past.
"We had Hardik Pandya in the ODI or the T20 series, he found the right bat. We had Steve Smith saying that he found his hands in the ODI series. About three-four years back Ishant Sharma found his wrists and since then his life has changed."
Sanjay Manjrekar signed off by observing that proper wrist position has enabled Ishant Sharma generate movement from the pitch due to an upright seam. This lateral movement from the pitch has helped the Delhi Capitals pacer become a bigger wicket-taking threat apart from being economical.
"He has continued to bowl relentlessly outside off-stump but something is happening now after the ball pitches and that has got him to bowl a lot fuller. We have seen five-wickets hauls as well and not just economy from Ishant Sharma."
Ishant Sharma has scalped 297 wickets at an average of 33.39 in the ninety-seven Test matches he has played for India. He has been at his penetrative best since 2017, with 85 wickets to his name in 24 Test matches at an excellent average of 22.20.