Published: Jul 03, 2016, 10:46 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 03, 2016, 03:48 PM (IST)
India are set to tour West Indies for a four-match Test series with an obscure of glumness looming over the force of their pace attack. Indian pace spearhead, Ishant Sharma, has sought shelter in the international circuit for over nine years now but his augmentation as a bowler has rather been ordinary, if anything he has regressed. He is no more considered as a white ball specialist and often renders his services in the longest format. With an away series on the cards, Suraj Choudhari reckons it’s high time for the lanky bowler to deliver as being a veteran. He is expected to do a lot better than what he is doing at the moment. READ: India in West Indies 2016: The fast bowling conundrum
Test cricket is changing; it’s no more the way it used to be couple of decades back, though certain principles remain unimpeded. For instance, fast bowling, bidding time against the new ball, getting your eyes, slip catching etc. Needless to say, the kind of stability and solitude an effective pace bowler brings to the side is priceless. Teams like Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand possess surfeit of menacing pacers and have managed to perform consistently with the red ball. But India have their share of pace bowling woes and have lacked consistency for a long time now. READ: Mohammed Shami: Maintaining right line and length key against West Indies
We now have for long known the kind of damage James Anderson and Stuart Broad inflict while hunting in pairs or for that matter the wicket-taking factor that Trent Boult and Tim Southee bring to the table for their team. But these qualities certainly go for a toss when India is spoken about. Teams rely on their strike bowlers to get the early kill, which has been the key in any format.
India have won just three out of their 26 overseas Tests in the last five years, including 16 losses and seven draws. These numbers are a testament to their ineffectiveness on foreign land and one of the major reasons has been scarcity of fast bowling resources. READ: Why Anil Kumble’s decision to give batting practice to Team India’s ‘tail enders’ is a master stroke
It was high time for Ishant to deliver five years and 40 Test matches ago. His only performance of note was against England at Lord’s when wickets were presented to him on a platter. Having played so many overseas Tests is atrocious. He has played more Test matches than Javagal Srinath, which in itself is astounding and he is nowhere close to being the leader of the attack.
Ishant debuted against Pakistan at home in 2007 and was tipped to be the next big thing for India after he burst on to the international scene with a renowned tour Down Under in 2007-08. Ishant bowls well in patches, but has not come up to scratch on a regular basis. His career has been riding on patchiness and sporadic vividness, which has also been a key factor behind his survival at the highest level.
Standing six feet four inches tall, Ishant has the tendency to generate that awkward bounce which can surprise any batsman at the crease. He also gets the ball to move into the right-handers along with that hint of bounce, which makes a batsman look like bereft of oomph. But to replicate this on a steady basis is what makes a bowler great.
It’s quite astonishing for a player of his calibre, not to have been able to establish himself as the leader of the attack. The selectors have invested a lot in him without reaping much of fruitful results. Ishant in confounding 68 Tests till date has managed to scalp 201 wickets at a questioningly towering average of over 36.
To add to his woes, Ishant claimed just a solitary wicket in the Test series against South Africa at home in 2015. Although Indian spinners wrecked havoc in the South Africa dugout but Ishant hardly stimulated any confidence. One would not be wrong to say that Ishant has not learned much in his stint with the Indian cricket team for over nine years. He continues to be erratic but stuns his harshest critics occasionally with some radiance. The likes of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the squad have been promising but yet to deliver, with Shardul Thakur the latest one to join the party.
It would be no surprise if Ishant shines in the West Indies tour as he will be confronting a mediocre batting line-up who have had a terrible time in Tests for a long time. But what lies ahead for Ishant in the future? Is it time for selectors to look beyond him and invest in Shardul, Barinder Sran or Jasprit Bumrah for that case? Dhawal Kulkarni is also the toughest contender to take charge and inspires confidence with his ability to bowl consistently at good speed and get the ball away from the right-hander. Well, the conundrum still remains unsolved and Ishant will have his share of the pie, but if he fails to live upto the expectations there would not be a second thought in axing him and giving the young guns a full-size chance.
(Suraj Choudhari is a reporter with Criclife and CricketCountry. He is an avid follower of the game, and plays the sport at club level. He has a radical understanding about the subtle nuances and intricacies of cricket, and tries to express it through paper and pen.)
