Ashish Nehra lauded Indian pacer Ishant Sharma ahead of his 100th Test match and said that any fast bowler playing 100 Test matches is a big achievement.
Ace Indian pacer will be playing his 100th Test match when India will lock horns against England in the third Test match, which also happens to be day and night Test, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Debuting for India in 2007 against Bangladesh, Ishant Sharma has been a mainstay of Indian bowling in Test cricket. However, in the last 4-5 years, Sharma has played a vital role in the Team’s success.
The right-arm pacer will be the second Indian fast bowler after legendary Kapil Dev, who played 131 Tests, to achieve the milestone.
Addressing Ishant Sharma’s achievement, former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra said that to play 100 Tests for any fast bowler is a big achievement and added that Ishant has altered his length which is an important aspect of Test cricket.
“Not only any Indian fast bowler but any fast bowler playing 100 Test matches is a big achievement. When people talk about Ishant Sharma’s length, yes, he has altered his length, which is very important in Test cricket," Ashish Nehra told Starsports.
Nehra was glad that Ishant Sharma hasn't lost his nip-backer to the right-hander even from around the stumps.
"Plus, he is the same old Ishant Sharma, the ball is coming into right-handers, which is really important for him, bowling around the stumps. Earlier, he used to bowl only over the stumps, but still the ball was not going away nicely against left-handers or you can say when right-handers are batting coming in nicely,"
Nehra further said that the way Ishant Sharma is moving the ball away from the left-handed batsmen shows his thinking about his game, which is great thinking for Team India.
"From the last 18 to 24 months, even around the stumps, forget over the stumps, the ball is going away nicely to the left-handed batsmen. This shows that he is thinking about his game, looking to add new things, and the results have gone in his favor. It’s a great thing for India,” he concluded.
Earlier in the first Test match between India and England, Ishant Sharma scripted history and imprinted himself into the archives of Indian cricket by becoming just the third pacer from his country to take 300 Test match wickets in his 98th Test match when he trapped England’s batsman Dan Lawrence in front of the wicket.
The lanky pacer has 302 wickets till now with the best bowling figures of 7/74 which came at Lord’s in 2014.
(Starsports inputs)
