If Ishant Sharma is fit, send him to Australia now: Sunil Gavaskar

Team India appears to be in trouble in the ongoing four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Australia. India will already be missing the services of their captain and key batsman Virat Kohli as he will be heading back home to be with his wife Anushka Sharma for the birth of their first child.

Adding to the misery, pace spearhead Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of the Test series after suffering a fracture in his right-arm on the Day 3 of the Adelaide Test against Australia. Batting in the second innings, India was reeling at 36/9 with the last-standing pair of Umesh Yadav and Shami on the crease.

The latter had played three balls scoring one run when Pat Cummins bowled a short ball that hit the Indian seamer on his right arm and he walked out of the field getting retired hurt. This resulted in India declaring their innings at 36/9 to register their lowest ever total in the purest format of the game.

Shami was a vital cog in Team India’s success in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19 where the Men in Blue had scripted history by winning the Test series by 2-1 for the first time on the Australian soil. He along with Jasprit Bumrah had tested and troubled the Australian batsmen with their yorkers and bouncers.

There is no proper back-up for Shami: Sunil Gavaskar

Opening in the absence of the seamer, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar asserted that it is a big loss for India. “It (Shami injury) is a big problem. he has the knack of taking wickets, he can shock the opposition with his bouncers and yorkers. If he is not playing, then it’s going to be trouble for India,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.

Ishant Sharma is currently training at NCA in Bengaluru to regain his match fitness, thus he hadn’t travelled with the team to Australia. However, Gavaskar believes that if the seamer is in a position of playing the games, then the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should immediately make arrangements of his travel to Australia.

In the absence of both Shami and Ishant, India is left with only two inexperienced pacers, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj. “If Ishant Sharma is fit, I am suggesting to send him to Australia now. If he is capable of bowling 20 overs in a day, the management should send him to Australia on tomorrow’s flight so that he can be ready for the Sydney Test.

“I am saying India should look at taking a chance because there is no proper back-up now. Navdeep Saini has the potential to pick wickets but the way he bowled in the warm-up matches, it doesn’t look like he will be able to trouble the Australia batsmen,” he further added.