5 Best Moments of Ishant Sharma's Career
Ishant Sharma looks at the set of stumps in the middle of the training session. He marks his run-up, bounds up to the crease, hair flying and jumping across his face as he delivers the ball, pitching it on off-stump and bringing it back into a right-hander. Ishant frowns. He walks back and talks to bowling coach Bharat Arun. They talk about wrist positions and angles. Ishant tries again and manages to get the ball to straighten. Now all he needs to do is do this consistently.Ishant is a man of extremes. He makes the news for brilliant bowling or he makes the news for dry, insipid and toothless bowling. Either way, he makes the news. Thrust into the national team at the age of 18, Ishant showed that he was capable of bowling fast - real fast. Genuine fast bowlers were a rarity in India and Ishant was immediately sent off to be groomed properly. He was later picked for the tour to Australia in 2007-08, where his entire life changed with one spell.Ishant, who turns 27 today, has often been made a media spectacle for his poor bowling. His long hair, wayward radar and inconsistent death bowling have made him a scapegoat in social circles. It’s easy to forget that he was at the centre of at least three of India’s greatest victories in the last few years.Here, we take a look at some of Ishant’s best moments.
#5 Brilliance in the IPL
The year was 2011, and it was IPL season. Mid-table team Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK) looked to capitalize on Deccan Chargers (DC), who were placed last. With a batting line-up boasting of Brendon McCullum, Mahela Jayawardene, and Brad Hodge, Kochi looked to sweep previous-champions DC under the rug. What they didn’t count on was Ishant Sharma.
Kochi bowled superbly to restrict the Chargers to 129-7 on a seaming wicket. With the job half-done, they looked up to their batsmen to give them a rousing start and get them over the line. The Kochi camp was full of smiles over the easy win they were about to get. Then it all started to go wrong. McCullum went for a duck in the first over by Steyn, but there was no panic yet. The target was just 130. Then Ishant came on.
His second ball seamed square and caught Parthiv Patel unawares, who tickled it through to the ‘keeper. The very next ball clean bowled Raiphi Gomez. The KTK management frowned. Brad Hodge came to the middle and calmly played two deliveries. His third ball knocked out middle stump. KTK were 2/4 and 130 looked a long way off. But Ishant wasn’t finished.
The first ball of his second over trapped Kedhar Jadhav in front, and he rounded it off by having Jayawardene caught behind. KTK were 11/6, the worst ever start in IPL history. Ishant had 5 wickets for 6 runs. The scoreboard read: 0 4 0 0 0 0. Their dreams of overpowering KTK vanished. Ishant had single-handedly destroyed an entire team. Though Deccan Chargers remained at the bottom of the table after the match, they were the ones smiling.