Ishant Sharma, India’s Most Experienced Campaigner in South Africa

The most experienced Indian cricketer in South Africa’s conditions, will Ishant Sharma step up against the Proteas?

As India embarks on its seventh Test tour of South Africa, Virat Kohli’s team does so with a quiet confidence, having gained experience in the last few years as a unit.

Believe it or not, the most experienced player in the travelling party is 29-year-old Ishant Sharma, now on his third Test tour of South Africa. The Delhi fast bowler previously toured South Africa in 2010-11 and 2013-14.

He is also the most successful current pace bowler in the line-up, with 226 scalps from 79 Tests.

But all this appeared to be so distant when the Ishant story began back in 2006-07. He was then a tall teenager who had impressed the then chief selector, Dilip Vengsarkar. India was in South Africa at the time for a full series and had just lost in the ODI series. In the Test matches, India shocked South Africa by an impressive win at Johannesburg (India’s first win in South Africa) and was looking to stamp their authority.

But then, it all started to go the other way.

India suffered an injury blow. An impressive Munaf Patel faltered due to an injury and the selectors urgently started looking for a replacement.

A Controversial Beginning

In one of the most comical episodes in Indian cricket, Ishant was dragged into a controversy the very first time he was picked by India. Vengsarkar’s panel picked him as Munaf’s replacement, but former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar criticised the move. Ishant was asked to be ready but within just a few hours, this decision was reversed by the BCCI.

It was a mystery then as to why Ishant was first picked and why the decision was reversed immediately. It was probably due to pressure from the greats.

In May 2007, Ishant made his Test debut by right versus Bangladesh, but was banished again till the end of the year. He returned against Pakistan and was also part of the Australia tour. He really made his mark down under in the Perth Test, showing the world – and indeed to the Indian cricket greats who sat in judgement in the commentary boxes – that he belonged on the big stage.

Zaheer’s Pace Partner

For a while, Ishant linked up with Zaheer Khan to form a potent new ball combination for India. Ishant looked up to Zaheer as his mentor, and together the duo played a crucial role in several Tests for India.

It was also the phase when a bunch of Indian new ball bowlers, who were in the running in early 2000s, were slowly going out of fashion.

RP Singh showed flashes of brilliance, Ashish Nehra was forgotten, whereas Ajit Agarkar was considered good only for limited-overs cricket. The promising pair of Lakshmipathy Balaji and Irfan Pathan also slowly receded into the background. The other group of fast bowlers like the mercurial Sreesanth and the gentle Munaf were also blowing hot and cold.

All this ensured that Ishant was bumped up the queue and promoted to straightaway pair up with his hero Zak Pa (as he referred to him). But as Zaheer slowly moved away due to injuries, Ishant emerged as MS Dhoni’s go-to bowler.

Ishant bowled for hours together on docile pitches as the lone warrior, even as the spinners wrecked havoc at home. Away from home, Ishant was again the lone warrior as he lost partners quite swiftly, with his high point being the match-winning spell in the 2014 Test at the Lord’s.

Limited-Overs Troubles

The increasing workload and the surfeit of limited-overs cricket meant that Ishant was not able to switch as efficiently as he would have hoped to. He was meant to have taken over Zaheer as the premier strike bowler, but he suffered because of the flat pitches in the shorter formats. He appeared to be lost for ideas when batsmen attacked him, and he did not seem to have any control in coloured clothing.

He was therefore banished from the shorter formats intermittently, and he even missed out on the 2011 World Cup. He had a brief run when India won the 2013 Champions Trophy, but that was also because of the spin pair of Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

With the emergence of the next crop of fast bowlers, Ishant slowly started going back in the queue of India’s preferred quick bowlers in all formats. He had a wretched time the last few times he turned up for India in coloured clothing. He was also all too keen himself to be part of the shorter formats, for fear of being left out of the race.

Thankfully, he finally appears to be at peace at missing out on the shorter formats. He has not been in the ODI or T20I squad since January 2016. So much so that Ishant even went unsold at this year’s IPL auction, but then he made a back door entry when Kings XI Punjab needed an urgent replacement.

But the story was all too familiar.

Ishant, ‘The Senior’

Now, at the start of this ongoing season, Ishant found his bearing when he donned the role of captain of Delhi Ranji side, and was in red hot form with the ball. He is one of the reasons why Delhi made to the Ranji final.

So, when he got the India call-up again, Ishant was striking once again.

For someone who has travelled to almost every Test nation more than once, Ishant is truly a veteran in the Indian cricket firmament. It is, therefore, important to allow him the time to once again reclaim his rightful position as the leader of the attack. That post is still vacant since Zaheer’s retirement.

The younger claimants like Umesh Yadav, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami form a deadly combination, but they could do with a workhorse as the leader to show them the way.

With just 21 Tests to go, Ishant could then just be next to Kapil Dev in the context of Indian cricket, albeit as member of an exclusive club.

(Chandresh Narayanan is former cricket writer with The Times of India, The Indian Express, ex-Media Officer for ICC and current media manager of Delhi Daredevils. He is also the author of World Cup Heroes, Cricket Editorial consultant, professor and cricket TV commentator.)