By: Drcricket7 Staff
Indian pacer Ishant Sharma’s sudden burst of energy and form at the SSC ground in Colombo hasn’t come as a surprise for those who are close to the Delhi pacer. With a complete confidence on his side, Ishant not only bowled in right areas throughout the Test series against Sri Lanka, but also got those crucial wickets for his team.
The pitches at Galle and P Sara Oval in Colombo — the venues for the first two Tests — may have assisted the Indian spinners more than the pacers. But the SSC was no less than an Australian pitch. It had pace, bounce and had all the juice needed to help the fast bowlers.
But you can’t really take anything out of Ishant’s success. He still had to bowl with a lot of momentum, zeal and zest, in right areas and was willing to wait to get the maximum purchase even on conducive wickets. Unlike what he did in the past, Ishant showed the aggressive side of the bowling, consistently. He even got into the war-of-words with some of the Sri Lankan. Still, he didn’t lose his focus.
This was the same Ishant who used to have one defining spell in every series that kept him going throughout. He had all the attributes of a great Indian fast bowlers, but couldn’t come match his reputation. But this Sri Lankan series was a revelation. He bowled magnificently from the first Test match in Galle and looked like a different Ishant Sharma.
The fact that the Indians won an overseas Test series after four years and a win in Sri Lanka after 22 years, Ishant has played a huge role like some of his other team mates like R Ashwin (21 wickets), Cheteshwar Pujara, Amit Mishra and KL Rahul. The lanky pacer is after all 200 wickets old. But not playing the ODI and T20 matches has turned it around. He is fresh and able to exert more effort out of his shoulders. His fitness regime has also improved and by all means this augurs well for India ahead of several more Test matches at home!
