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Ishant Sharma (Source: AFP)
The veteran pacer Ishant Sharma, in his more than 18-year international career, has established himself as one of the all-time great pace bowlers to have played for India in Tests. Notably, Ishant, with 105 Tests, is only the second Indian pacer to play more than 100 Tests for India, after the former legendary skipper and all-rounder, Kapil Dev, who played 131 games for India.
Besides that, Ishant is the joint-second leading wicket-taker among pace bowlers for India in the longest format of the game. Following Kapil Dev’s 434 wickets, Ishant is at the second spot, alongside Zaheer Khan. Ishant has scalped 311 wickets in 188 innings of the 105 Tests, including 11 five-wicket hauls and a ‘10-wicket haul’ in a match.
Ishant has bowled some unforgettable spells in his Test career that helped India clinch a win in the crucial matches or against the tough opponents. Therefore, here we’ll have a look at Ishant Sharma’s five best spells in the traditional format of the game.
Ishant Sharma’s five best spells in Tests
7/74 vs England - Lord’s Test, 2014
After playing a draw in the first Test in Nottingham, England, India locked horns in the second Test of the five-match series. The hosts’ skipper, Alastair Cook, won the toss and asked MS Dhoni’s men to bat first. The visitors scored 295 runs in the first innings before England responded with 319 runs to take a minor 24-run lead. Furthermore, India scored 342 runs in the second innings, setting Australia a target of 319 runs.
While defending the target, the Indian bowling attack was led by the star pacer Ishant Sharma. He launched a brutal attack on the English batters, with aggressive short-pitched deliveries at unplayable length. Ishant went on to register his career-best figures, picking seven wickets for 74 runs in 23 overs, with an economy rate of 3.21, including six maiden overs. Ishant’s lethal spell helped India bundle out England at the score of 223 runs and win the game by 95 runs. Ishant Sharma won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his game-changing spell.
6/54 vs West Indies - Bridgetown Test, 2011
After taking a 1-0 lead with the first Test win, India took on West Indies in the second Test of the three-match series in 2011. The Caribbean skipper Darren Sammy won the toss and asked India to bat first. The visitors scored 201 runs in the first innings courtesy of VVS Laxman’s 85 runs and Suresh Raina’s 53 runs.
Furthermore, Ishant Sharma, with his sensational five-wicket haul, made this 201-run total look too far for the West Indies. Ishant picked six wickets for just 55 runs in 21.5 overs, including three maiden overs to pack the Caribbean side at the score of 190 runs, with India taking an 11-run lead. Later in the second innings, India declared their innings after scoring 269 runs for the loss of six wickets.
While chasing the target, the West Indies were once again in trouble, struggling against Ishant Sharma. Notably, the star India pacer continued his brilliant run from the first innings and claimed four wickets for just 53 runs in the second innings as well. However, the match ended in a draw, Ishant Sharma won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his Test career’s first-ever ‘10-wicket haul in a match’.
5/54 vs Sri Lanka - Colombo Test, 2015
India and Sri Lanka took on each other in the third and last Test of the three-match series after leveling the series 1-1. The Islanders’ skipper Angelo Mathews won the toss and asked India to bat first. The visitors posted 312 runs in the first innings, courtesy of Cheteshwar Pujara’s 145-run knock.
In response to India’s 312-run total, the hosts crumbled against Ishant Sharma’s fiery bowling. Ishant scalped five wickets for just 54 runs in 15 overs, including two maiden overs, to play a central role in bowling out Sri Lanka at the score of just 201 runs, with India getting an 111-run lead.
Later in the second innings, India scored 274 runs, setting a challenging target of 386 for Sri Lanka. While chasing the target, the Sri Lanka batter was left clueless once again, this time against the spin-pace duo of Ravichandran Ashwin (4/69) and Ishant Sharma (3/32).
Eventually, India won the game by a massive margin of 117 runs to win the series by 2-1, and Ishant ended up picking eight wickets in the last and final Test of the series.
4/73 vs New Zealand - Hamilton Test, 2009
India and New Zealand were facing each other in the first Test of the three-match series in 2009. The visiting skipper, MS Dhoni, won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first. After facing a top and middle-order collapse, the Kiwis managed to score 279 runs courtesy of Jesse Ryder’s 102 and skipper Daniel Vettori’s 118 runs, respectively.
Notably, it was Ishant Sharma who destroyed the top and middle order of New Zealand’s batting attack. He claimed three out of New Zealand’s first five wickets. Ishant dismissed Tim McIntosh, Ross Taylor, and James Franklin. Ishant finished with the figures of ‘four wickets for 73 runs in 19.2 overs’.
Furthermore, India posted a mammoth total of 520 runs in their first innings before bundling out the Blackcaps again at 279 runs in the second innings. Eventually, India comfortably chased down the nominal target of 39 runs without losing any wickets and won the Test series opener by 10 wickets.
2/34 and 1/63 vs Australia - Perth Test
The numbers might not look a bit small compared to the aforementioned spells of Ishant Sharma’s career. Still, this spell in Perth was a statement of the then-18-year-old teenager that ‘he has arrived on the horizon of international cricket’. The way young Ishant Sharma troubled the then-veteran Ricky Ponting was something that caught the attention of the cricketing fraternity.
In the first innings, Ishant picked two big wickets of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke to play a crucial role in bundling out the Aussies at just 212 runs in response to India’s 330-run total. Later in the second innings, when Australia were chasing the target of 413 runs, Ishant troubled Ponting for one more time and dismissed him in the same manner, getting him caught by Rahul Dravid in the slip.
India won this game by 72 runs, but it also happened to be one of the turning points in Ishant Sharma’s illustrious Test career.
