Fox Sports claims Ishant Sharma bowled six no-balls in an over in Adelaide Test that weren't called

Ishant Sharma might have learned several lessons in his decade-long cricketing career but to avoid over-stepping is certainly not one of them. Despite being the most experienced pacers in the team for quite some time now, Ishant has drawn criticism every now and then for his over-stepping issue which has robbed him of wickets as well.

He recently attracted criticism for the same problem in the first Test against Australia in Adelaide. In the final innings of the series-opener, the lanky pacer was close to getting two wickets but was denied on both the occasions due to no-balls. The first one was given on the field when he pinned Aaron Finch in the very first over However, DRS review shoed Ishant had overstepped. Later on the final day of the game, the umpire called a no-ball when the India pace spearhead had trapped Nathan Lyon plumb in front.

Australia news outlet the Daily Telegraph later reported that Ishant overstepped 16 times in the first innings alone.  Ishant was also the only bowler called for overstepping in the Adelaide Test, five times in all. But fortunately for the pacer, the costly no-balls did not cost India much as they beat the hosts by 31 runs to take the lead in the four-match series.

Ishant in hot water

Well, Ishant is now grabbing the headlines not for those two costly no-balls but for those that were missed. Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, while commentating during the game, had pointed out that Ishant bowled four no-balls inside an over. But the umpire had failed to notice even one of them.

An intrigued Fox Sports then took the matters in its own hands and did a thorough search only to find out that Ishant had bowled several no-balls. In fact, they revealed that the 88-Test veteran had bowled six no-balls in one over but none of them was noticed by the on-field umpire.

In a report, Fox revealed, “Sharma – India’s most experienced star with 88 Tests to his name — bowling four out of six no-balls in two separate overs during the first Test. Astonishingly, one over from the towering quick in Adelaide was bowled entirely over the mark. Not a single ball was legitimate.”

In the Bowlology podcast, former Australia cricketers Damien Fleming and Brad Hodge slammed the umpires while the latter went on to say that Sharma was a ‘serial offender’ when it comes to overstepping.

“Seriously, the umpires have to start calling no-balls. I think they’ve got lazy. It’s runs to the batting team — how many more could have Australia got? It’s just no good for anyone,” Fleming said.

Ishant, meanwhile, toiled hard in the nets ahead of the second Test to rectify his mistakes. With bowling coach B Arun standing as the umpire, Ishant worked hard on his bowling and landing in the nets.

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~ Written by Bijyo

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