Speedster- Ishant Sharma

It is often said that ‘medium pacers are born and not made’, because pace cannot be merely increased with consistent hard work, it comes naturally. A player can increase few miles with all the grind but it is practically impossible to increase it beyond that. Hence, it is a god gifted art. One such god gifted player, who brought the cricket world to a storm with his bowling talent was Ishant Sharma. He was a typical Delhiite who came from Patel Nagar and worked extremely hard to climb up the ranks. He was an expeditious bowler who didn’t take much time to shift from junior level to senior level. 

Sharma himself revealed in an interview about how he couldn’t even afford a pair of shoes when he had started playing cricket, but now, as he looks back, he is grateful how he became the second highest wicket taker in tests after Kapil Dev. He has certainly come a long way.

Early life and domestic career of Ishant Sharma

Born on 2 September, 1988, Ishant Sharma played domestic cricket for Delhi. He practiced under Mr. Shravan Kumar sir at Rohtak Road Gymkhana. Sir was the one who transformed Ishant from raw pacer into a disciplined bowler. Along with that, Virat Kohli’s coach, Mr. Rajkumar Sharma guided him on various occasions and Ishant gives a lot of credit to him as well. 

Ishant was a very effective bowler in the domestic circuit. He played 14 first class matches during which he grabbed 69 wickets, meaning on an average he was taking 4 wickets per match. Moreover, with his stellar performance in Ranji Trophy, he toured England with India Under 19 in 2006. 

International career of Ishant Sharma 

Ishant Sharma has played all three formats for India. In 2006-07 Sharma joined the Indian team replacing Munaf Patel, when he was only 18 years old. He made his Test debut on 25 May, 2007 V Bangladesh. The following month, with his convincing performance in red ball cricket, he made his ODI debut on 29 June, 2007 V South Africa. Then, on 1 February 2008, he made his T20I debut against Australia.

Initially, Ishant was recognised as a fierce bowler who was quick and had disciplined bowling. He was 6ft 4” tall and that always helped him in generating extra pace and bounce through the turf. He was very effective in longer formats of the game and was recognised as the future star of the Indian team.

Over the years, he has contributed massively by winning many matches for the country. However, his stats declined as he lost pace after years. Naturally, a medium pacer has to endure a lot of injuries. and that was the case with Sharma too. Soon selectors started looking beyond him as the trio of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. They were conveniently replaced by Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. He played his last international match on 25 November, 2021 V New Zealand. 

Notable achievements in Ishant’s career 

•  2011- became fifth youngest bowler to take 100 test wickets
•  2012- he was awarded with the Arjuna Award
•  2013- won ICC Champions Trophy 

 International stats of Ishant Sharma

IPL

Sharma was picked in the very first edition of IPL and that too at a hefty price of  $950,000 by Kolkata Knight Riders. He seemed to be a very promising young talent back then and that was the reason why he was sold at the highest bid among medium pacers. 

He played for KKR from 2008 till 2010, and then for Deccan Chargers from 2011 till 2012. Later in 2013, he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad and he played for them till 2015. He had short stints with Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 and Kings XI Punjab in 2017 as well. But now, currently he is representing Delhi Capitals and is amongst the veteran pacers. He is the pillar of strength for the rest of the

IPL stats with different franchises