India tour of South Africa: Senior most India pacer Ishant Sharma’s Test career is in jeopard because of his recent struggles and the upcoming all-important tour of South Africa “could just be it” for the 33-year-old who is the only player to feature in almost 100 Tests in Virat Kohli’s squad. Follow India tour of South Africa live on InsideSport.IN.
India tour of South Africa: Series likely to be end of road for Ishant Sharma
According to a top BCCI official, the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara will be under the scanners, however, the sword is certain to fall on Ishant Sharma. The selectors are planning to look beyond the lanky Delhi pacers with youngsters like Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur rising rapidly in the international arena.
“Rahane’s removal as vice-captain is a clear warning signal to him. As a senior member in the side, he needs to contribute more. Same is true for Pujara also. He too has been around for a long time and now the team expects him to play those crucial knocks in big games. In case they score and have a significant impact on the series, they might be able to extend their Test careers. But in the case of Ishant, this could be it,” a top BCCI official told The Indian Express.
Post the South Africa series, India’s next Test assignment is a home series against Sri Lanka and it’s a very well known fact that teams rarely include more than two pacers under the subcontinent conditions where spinners dominate. India later plays the postponed 5th Test from 2021 tour of England at the Old Trafford in June.
Ishant Sharma‘s stature had reduced long back with the rice of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami as India’s leading red-ball pacers. Mohammed Siraj has slowly pushed Ishant to the fourth in the pecking order and it’s very evident now that golden days of Ishant Sharma are long gone.
In the last 12 months, Ishant has played eight Tests, taking 14 wickets at 32.71. Five of those wickets came in the Lord’s Test. Ishant has struggled to manage his workload and have gone wicketless in his last two Test matches. He looked completely out of rhythm in the Kanpur Test against New Zealand.
He is tied with Zaheer Khan as India’s fifth highest wicket-taker. 311 wickets each for Ishant and Zaheer but in 105 and 92 matches respectively. Among active pacers with 250 or more wickets, James Anderson has an average of 26.62, Stuart Broad – 27.84, Tim Southee – 28.19, Trent Boult – 27.67 and Mitchell Starc – 27.57.
However, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey recently defended Ishant Sharma.
“He hasn’t played much for a long time. He wasn’t there in the IPL nor (did he play) the T20 World Cup, and that makes a difference. So yes, we are working on it,” Mhambrey had said.
India tour of South Africa: Series likely to be end of road for Ishant Sharma
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