England vs India: Ravi Shastri confident about Ishant Sharma's performance in Test series

India were earlier dealt with a body when Bhuvneshwar Kumar, one of their gun bowlers, couldn’t find a place in the Test squad against England for the first three matches owing to a back injury. Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma, being the experienced campaigners, are considered to shoulder a chunk of the responsibility on conditions, which have historically been conducive to seam bowling.

While Umesh has played international cricket in the limited-overs fixtures against the Brits, Ishant last represented India in their historic Test match against Afghanistan in Bangalore where he picked up four wickets. Meanwhile, Ishant played for Sussex in England’s County Championship. The tall and lanky fast-bowler had a decent outing having finished with 15 wickets in four matches at an average of 23.06.

He also nipped out three batsmen for 59 runs in the first innings of India’s warm-up match against Essex at County Ground in Chelmsford. The Delhi-born cricketer will now be hoping to replicate his form and contribute for his national team in the upcoming five-day fixtures.

He has taken more wickets than anyone else

Meanwhile, Ravi Shastri, the head coach of the Indian team, sounded confident about Ishant’s performance in red-ball cricket. Shastri, 56, put forth his erstwhile shows against Sri Lanka and South Africa and hailed the speedster’s prowess to get under the skins of batsmen.

“Ishant Sharma has done brilliantly in Sri Lanka. He did outstandingly in that Test match in Johannesburg where he bowled his heart out. He might not have taken a five-for, but he kept the bloody pressure on South Africa all the time. That is his role. He is experienced. He wants to be a spearhead,” Shastri was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“He has taken more wickets than anyone else amongst the fast bowlers. He will remember his seven-wicket haul at Lord’s in 2014, which played a big hand in the win. Those are the memories that will run through his mind when he gets the ball in hand,” the former all-round cricketer added.

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