Ishant Sharma to feature in County Championship: Ravi Shastri

Following in the footsteps of fellow teammates Ravi Ashwin and Chestashwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma is set to play in the County Championship. According to Ravi Shastri, the India Test bowler is in talks with Kent, a team which plays in Division 2 of the Championship. With just four first-class games left for the season, Ishant might be rushing to England very soon.

Dominating start to Shastri’s tenure

Shastri has done a fabulous job since his appointment as the head coach. He has had a clean sheet as India have made light weight of host Sri Lanka in their ongoing tour of the Island nation. The Test series was a no contest as Kohli’s troops romp home to a 3-0 win. With just one game to go in the ODI series, India took favorites to whitewash the Sri Lankans in the ODI series as well. The head coach was delighted to see a couple of top players going to England to play in their domestic competition and looked forward to more players going in future.

“I am all for that. Pujara, Ashwin and now Ishant is also going, I think he is joining Kent. These are vital and key players in our team. The more players go, the merrier. I would like to see a couple more of fast bowlers going there,” said Shastri to PTI on Friday.

Shastri wants Kohli, Rohit to play in England in future

Playing in England develops a player’s game in so many ways. Shastri cited the example of Zaheer Khan, who played for Worcestershire during his career and made a rousing comeback to the Indian side after his exploits in England. The 55-year old also said that he wants more and more cricketers including the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to follow suit before India visit to the shores of England next summer.

“Zaheer Khan went there for a couple seasons to Worcestershire and he was a changed bowler. So I would love to see Umesh Yadav or Mohammed Shami going there, even if for short periods,” said the coach. “And why just the bowlers, the batsmen should go too. If they want to before the tour, be it Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma or others, I am all for it,” he signed off.

With the World Cup scheduled to take place in England two years later, it will be ideal for some players, both batsmen, and bowlers, to have a stint in England to get acclimatize to the conditions before sterner tasks begin.