It was day five when Ishant extracted life from the Lord's pitch with the old ball reviving India's winning chances to create history in the 'Home of Cricket' after 28 years.
Well, that was the moment for me which literally made me fall in love with Test cricket and Ishant Sharma the bowler played a huge role behind it.
(Photo - Getty Image)
It all started from 'ek aur karega', the famous spell to Ricky Ponting at the Waca and now all set to become the second ever Indian fast bowler to play a 100th test match. Only ten players have ever done this and probably no bowler in that list has a better redemption story than Ishant Sharma.
In the initial phase of his career, he used to be the tireless workhorse for the team bowling 20-25 overs a day but could not get the results he deserved. It was during the year 2011-12 when everyone gave an unlucky tag next to his name on his inability to turn his potential into performance. The unlucky Ishant kept beating every top batsmen, made them uncomfortable but struggled to get that fine edge of the bat at last. According to experts, the problem was with his length which was slightly shorter than the edge drawing ones. In addition he also lost his natural in-swinger which was very lethal after the surgery in 2012. But the main problem was nobody gave the solution till Gillespie came into the picture.
The Sussex head coach asked him to hit the deck hard which should finish on the knee roll instead of only releasing the ball to land a bit fuller.
"I have realized that maybe one or two people worked on the solutions. The problem everyone can tell you but one who is a good coach will tell you about solutions. A lot of people would tell me that I need to increase the pace of my fuller deliveries. No one told me how to do that? It was when I went to play county cricket, Jason Gillespie gave me the solution. Gillespie told me that in order to increase the pace in fuller deliveries, you don’t just release it but hit the deck so that it should target the knee roll." Ishant said to India today after a Ranji game in 2019.
(Photo - BCCI)
With time it was reflected in his bowling immediately whatever he gained from that one season of county in 2018. Since 2018 it has turned the table for Ishant Sharma completely.
He is arguably the best pacer in terms of consistency and results from the year 2018. His average of 19.34 since 2018 is better than the number one ranked bowler Pat Cummins. In fact only Jason Holder is ahead of him in terms of average.
Best average by pace bowler since 2018 (Min: 10 matches)
19.04 - Jason Holder
19.34 - Ishant Sharma
19.71 - Umesh Yadav
20.00 - Pat Cummins
21.46 - James Anderson
21.87 - Jasprit bUmrah
22.13 - Vernon Philander
22.62 - Tim Southee
22.91 - Stuart Broad
Stat by - @kaustats
So, how does this make Ishant Sharma to have the best redemption in Test cricket in comparison to anyone of that caliber ?
Ishant Sharma in the first half of his career (after 50 Tests) had an average of 38.46 and in the next 49 Tests had an average of 26.8. The percentage of improvement is 30.2 which is more than anyone who played a minimum of 60 Test matches and took 200 wickets.
At the time Ishant Sharma played his 66th Test which is ⅔ of his career, his average was 36.71 which was third poorest by any bowler who played more than 66 tests and bowled more than 1750 overs. And now in the last ⅓ of his career his average has been 23.4 which is a massive improvement of 36.25% which is second to none. The second best is none other than the all time highest wicket-taker in Test, James Anderson with 25.1% (minimum 60 Test and 200 wickets).
(Photo - Twitter)
In addition, according to CricViz, Ishant Sharma induced a false shot percentage of 22.6 which is fourth most by any fast bowler since 2018 before this series. This shows how much he is keeping things simple and basic with consistency.
It took him a while to become the potential fast bowler of which he showed a glimpse back in 2008. And now become the leader of the Indian pace attack which had a great success in the last few years. Ishant Sharma was the leader of the Indian pace trio which grabbed a record breaking 131 wickets in the year 2018, followed by 81 wickets in the year 2019 at an average of 15.46.
(Photo - Twitter)
From being a workhorse with an unlucky tag to leading the best pace attack in the world, Ishant Sharma could not have written a better redemption story of his own in Test Cricket. During the first test against NZ in Basin Reserve, Ishant suffered a ligament tear and was struggling to be fit for the first test. However, despite all these and jet lag, he played the first game and took a five wicket haul in the first innings. This shows how much committed he has been to his game and always goes for his target with no limitations.
Here he talks about his top five bowling performance where he mentioned about his most recent five wicket haul in Wellington:
It's been thirteen years and Ishant Sharma is going to play his 100th test match which is not less than a GOAT stuff. I myself as a big fan watched him go through all the highs and lows but always admired the way he fights and comes back. And since 2018, the Ishant Sharma tale of redemption in Test cricket is nothing less than a fairy tale for me. He is the only guy left from the team which made me love this game and hopefully we have another half of a decade or more to see him in whites for team India. Go well, Ishant.
(Statistical concept - @rajeshstats)
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