India's most experienced Test pacer, Ishant Sharma, was on Wednesday (November 18) seen bowling at full tilt at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore in order to regain fitness before the Test series in Australia.
Ishant had been ruled out of the IPL 2020 in UAE after playing just one match due to a "left internal oblique muscle tear".
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Crucial to India's chances of retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the 32-year-old quick has been going through an extensive rehab since his return to the country last month under the supervision of NCA chief Rahul Dravid and head physio Ashish Kaushik.
ESPNcricinfo shared a video footage of Ishant operating with a full run-up into his delivery stride while Dravid and chief selector Sunil Joshi observed from a distance.
Other coaches like Paras Mhambrey and Mansur Khan were also in attendance as Ishant aimed at the single stump placed 22 yards away.
Ishant has resumed bowling full tilt on exactly the date which had been reportedly conveyed by Dravid's NCA team to BCCI before he could tour down under.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had recently told PTI that they expect their lead pacer to be there helping the side compete against the Aussies from first Test onwards.
"Yes, we are expecting Ishant to be back for the Test matches. He has already started bowling from shorter run-ups and short spells. He has bowled at NCA," Ganguly had informed.
"But as there is a BCCI protocol for fast bowlers, Ishant will be playing the two first-class games in Australia."
Ishant should be travelling to Australia in the coming days, given the quarantine regulations in place before he can take part in the two practise matches as Ganguly mentioned.
The Indians will be facing an Australia A side in two pre-series warm-up matches, one a red-ball fixture, the other a pink-ball one, from December 6 to 13.
The Test series begins on December 17 which Ishant starts off just three scalps away from becoming only the third Indian pacer after Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan to take 300 wickets in the format.
