New Delhi: Shell shocked and bemused, Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting could not have been more clueless during the 2008 Perth Test against India when a certain upstart by the name of Ishant Sharma dared to put one of the greatest batsman in contemporary cricket through an ordeal that left world cricket gasping for its breath.
But that was then and almost three years hence, one might be tempted to politely inquire as to what happened to that phenomenon who promised to be the the next best thing for Team India?
It is probably one of those inexplicable topics that one can go on about without quite getting to its bottom.
To be fair to Ishant, he had some creditable performances with both bat and ball during the recently concluded Test series against the Australians at home.
However, it was not that long ago that the lanky fast bowler from Delhi seemed to have answered the prayers of millions and arrived on the scene as an Indian bowler with genuine pace.
On 17th February 2008 he bowled a delivery which clocked 152.6 km/h in an ODI against the Aussies at Adelaide, no mean feat by an Indian pacer many of whom struggle to touch 130 at times.
He was probably one of those multi-dimensional quick bowlers that India had never possesed in its ranks.
Apart from an ability to generate pace and bounce, Sharma could also make the ball talk and at least Ponting would not have a counter theory to that.
With 15 wickets to his name, he was declared man of the series in the home fixture against Australia a couple of years back when the Indians won the four Test match series without much of a scare.
Aged only 19, the world was at his feet, but what followed was a downward slide that never seemed to come to an end.
There were a number of expert opinions ranging from IPL burnout to a wrong wrist postion and as one of the television commentators rightly observed, Sharma was under the scanner every time he ran in to bowl.
Having said that, all is not lost for the Delhi paceman and his performance has been improving ever so slightly.
The upcoming series against New Zealand will be a fair indicator as to where Ishant is headed and with the World Cup round the corner, let's hope that he hits his straps and rediscovers his old self sooner rather than later.
Ishant Sharma is simply too good a player to be languishing in the wilderness for a length of time and his fall from grace would be one of the all time lows for Indian cricket.
No comments:
Post a Comment