Do we really require Ishant Sharma?
When a young tearaway fast bowler made his one-day debut against South Africa in the picturesque Ireland at the Future Cup in 2007, he immediately caught attention for his tearaway and his first outing brought figures of 7-0-38-0 with an economy of 5.42. But the by caught the nation’s attention in the third Test at Perth against the mighty Australians in January 2008, getting rid of skipper Ricky Ponting to a beauty that held its line and the Australian went on to gift his wicket many more times in the series to the lanky Indian. The Commonwealth Bank Series in 2008 was the highlight of Ishant Sharma’s career bagging 14 wickets from 9 games at an impressive average of 20.35.
However, in the nine ODI series that he has featured so far, Ishant has bagged 42 wickets in 30 games and has gone on for runs in excess of 5.5 an over on most occasions.
In the just concluded third ODI between India and Sri Lanka, Ishant went for 63 runs in his seven-over spell whilst bagging two wickets. Neither does he look menacing with his pace nor is his line threatening, but the selectors have consistently persisted with his erratic bowling. Isn’t it time for the selection committee to give the 21-year-old a break? There are many waiting in the wings such as C. Ganapathy from Tamil Nadu, Mithun who is featuring for Karnataka in the ongoing Ranji Trophy Super League competition. The criteria necessarily need to be form and match fitness—and in both cases the Delhi lad has been found wanting.
Legends of the game have in the past taken a break to reassess where their bowling or batting was and come back stronger. Even as the question of too much cricket being played rages on, the only issue that will bother a team will be the physical availability of players who are as potent as Ishant Sharma in it.
Tuesday saw Yuvraj Singh having the recurrence of the finger injury that he had sustained during the second T20 game in Mohali and is out of the final two games.
