Recently, I had a chat with Gaurav of BCC! fame about India’s terrible tour of Australia. One thing that came up was why everyone was talking about axing the seniors, but no one talked about the terrible form of Gambhir (now 181 runs at 22.62) and Ishant (now 5 wickets at 90.20). Since this chat was just after the Perth match, I commented that Ishant only took one wicket for 89 runs even though it was the place where he first rose to prominence after his famous spell against Ricky Ponting. I casually looked at the scorecard of that match and, lo and behold, I discover that Ishant had only taken 3 wickets in that entire match and two of them were Ponting in either innings, who had, including that Test, only made 120-odd runs in 6 innings in that series.
It amused me that, as a more-than-casual follower of cricket, even I was fooled by the hype surrounding Ishant’s spell that I totally forgot that he only took 3 wickets in a match that India won. Gaurav commented how odd it is that people remember him for a spell; typically, we remember bowlers for a Test or a series where they took a bunch of wickets and won matches. On my side, how it is that four years later, we remember a bowler for one spell he did four years ago. And how is he still in a national cricket team with a career bowling average of 37.87 with only 133 wickets after 45 Tests with only decent averages against West Indies, Bangladesh and New Zealand?
The only explanation is that he has some powerful Godfather protecting him. Conspiracy theory alert! But how else could you explain an article like this in Cricinfo, which suggests:
- Ishant is more unlucky than untalented.
- In a series where he has been the most expensive (other than Yadav), a cross-section of 20 overs where he only gave away 52 runs proves something. (Remove those overs and he gives away close to 4 runs an over)
- Although he has been criticized for not bowling wicket-taking balls, those criticisms do not matter because Mike Hussey has a great opinion about him. Also Ricky Ponting. (Has it occurred to people that even Australians may not like kicking people in the family jewels when they are down and totally useless?)
- Yadav owes his wickets to Ishant, who could be getting those Yadav wickets if only he was bowling differently such as bowling “the ball that got Ricky Ponting’s edge when it held its line four years ago” (that spell again!)
And today with Daniel Brettig with the amazing line, “Ishant Sharma has been a man more sinned against than sinning almost all tour“. Sinned against? By whom? Australia not willing to gift their wickets? Indian fielders not at the positions where the ball is being hit? The umpires not willing to say okay to his appeals? God not answering Ishant’s prayers?
It is time for Ishant to go. He is only 23. If he has talent, he has more than enough time to make a comeback. If not, better for India and some other aspiring fast bowler.