England v India 2014: 7 reasons behind Ishant Sharma's 7/74 at Lord's

Not many share the privilege of possessing an unkempt canopy of tresses that blindshim during the follow-throughyet permitsfor a match-winning spell of 7/74 against an English side. Not many can brag about having Ricky Ponting as his bunny during his debut tour overseas. Hell, not many can win matches for two teams while playing for the same side. But Ishant Sharma has always been the enigma that even Sunil Narine cannot hope of conjuring.On one hand, he has materialized as Gods answer to BCCIs wrongdoings, as karmas response to the erstwhile BCCI President; on the other, he has scalped three five-wicket hauls in two tours. The rise and fall and fall and fall and rise of Ishant Sharma would illustrate a steady negative slope with sporadically scattered peaks, if it were to be graphed. Inconsistency has been his fraternal twin for so long a time that even Navjot Singh Sidhu has ceased to utter the word form in relevance to the lanky seamer.Youve got to be absolutely thick-headed if you do not believe that Ishant had summoned several avatars of Lord Krishna before taking the Duke from MS Dhoni in the second innings. And just like Arjuna was preached before the battle of Kurukshetra, Ishant was reminded of the necessities of his bowling short and doing his country yes, Krishna always likes to play the majority game a huge favor.I enlist, here, 7of them that sounded the least preposterous.

#1 Citizenship crisis

Ever since Ishant declined the Order of Australia and lifetime citizenship Down Under offered by the President, he has been regretting it. No Indian in the history of cricket had been presented with such honor for contributions to Australian cricket merely for one 30-run over against some James Faulkner.

Ishant had refused the honor in imitation to what Rabindranath Tagore did to his Knighthood years back. What had been a desperate act of patriotism then has been turning out to be absolute naiveté for the last few months. As Ishant began his run-up for Australia’s second innings, he knew that another wicketless Test would ensure cancellation of his Indian citizenship.

The stakes were high, the pressure insurmountable and expectations zero. That Ishant would no longer remain a citizen of India after Monday spread a glee across a billion faces. That, however, was not to be.

The magnitude of the Delhi lad’s performance lay in the fact that he did not yield to his predicament. Instead, divine blessings ensured, he emerged victorious.

https://twitter.com/dhairyakhale/status/391804280329338881