New Delhi, Feb 21: On the sidelines of a Ranji Trophy game in 2019, Ishant Sharma had called himself “the last flicker in a lamp” while politely making his reluctance known to three scribes, who had approached the self-effacing beanpole for an interaction. Ishant was then standing at 96 Tests.
Nearly 14 months later, during which he missed five Tests due to an injury, Indian cricket’s most adorable ‘lambu’ is shining bright.
He is on course to become only the second Indian fast bowler, after the great Kapil Dev, to complete 100 Tests for the country. “Arre yaar mera interview karke kya karogey? Main toh bujhta huya diya hoon (Why do you want to interview me? I am like the last flicker in a lamp),” Ishant had said at the Kotla.
In terms of sheer talent and craft, Ishant wouldn’t be in the same league as Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Shami or Javagal Srinath but with his longevity, he has proved that “workhorse” isn’t exactly an abused word, which is used to sum up the veteran pacer.
“I think I will say this with certainty…,” former India wicketkeeper and Ishant’s ex-Delhi teammate and coach Vijay Dahiya said.
“Ishant will be the last Indian fast bowler to play 100 Test matches. I don’t see anyone playing 100 Tests. With majority of the fast bowlers preserving themselves for IPL and white ball games, it will be increasingly difficult to play 100 Tests for India,” Dahiya made a statement.
Ishant’s mate for the last 16 years, current Delhi captain Pradeep Sangwan felt that even when Virat Kohli and Ishant attended Delhi’s U-17 trials, he looked a class apart. “He was so tall and that long flowing mane of his, we used to pull his leg and tease him, “dekh le bhai, lamba Shah Rukh aa gaya (watch out brothers, the tall Shah Rukh has come; referring to the actor),” Sangwan said. “But then even during those U-17 days, he was so tall and generated so much pace, you knew that he was special. And if you see when Virat was leading us at the 2008 U-19 World Cup, Ishant was already a Test player by then and didn’t need to play that tournament.”
His first 79 Test matches yielded 226 wickets and the last 20 fetched him 76 scalps, which shows how the man from West Delhi’s Patel Nagar moulded himself according to the team’s needs.
Ishant, as well as the current crop of Indian fast bowling line-up’s most memorable three years, started in 2018 in South Africa with the introduction of Jasprit Bumrah in the Test arena.
“MS used him as a defensive bowler who would hold one end up. Ishant was his man to do the job. You know why he has lasted this long: because it’s very important to know what your leader wants and deliver accordingly,” Dahiya said.
“He wasn’t the wicket-taking bowler but kudos to him, he did the job of bowling 20 plus overs a day with elan, which primarily the spinners do in Tests,” he added.
It’s his hardwork and ability to maintain fitness standards that allows him to bowl those 8 to 9 over spells Test after Test.
“He was bowling those 8 to 9 overs spells at 18 years at a pace of 140 plus. Today he is nearing 33 and he is still bowling those long spells consistently in late 130 kmph and cranking it up to 140 kmph at times,” said Sangwan.
First-class cricket has its own set of benefits but there are a few pitfalls, too, and often the example of former England batsman Graeme Hick is cited. (PTI)
