Ishant Sharma finally gets a chance to play in IPL 10, bought by Kings XI Punjab

Team India speedster Ishant Sharma who remained unsold in the IPL auction very recently was eventually bought by Kings XI Punjab just a day before the start of the 10th edition of the tournament. He has been brought in as the replacement for injured Murali Vijay who is expected to miss the full tournament.

Despite being the spearhead of the Indian Test bowling line-up after the retirement of Zaheer Khan, Ishant has failed to put up consistent performances especially in the limited overs format which might be one of the major reasons behind his ouster from the auctions.

Taking to their twitter handle, PTI broke the news of Ishant being purchased by Kings XI Punjab for the upcoming edition. It wasn’t a great moment for him when the lanky fast bowler remained unsold throughout the action despite being in the circuit for more than a decade now. It would have been a difficult pill to swallow for the fast bowlers especially when unknown commodities like Natarajan and K Gowtham bagged whopping prices in the auction.

India speedster @ImIshant picked up by @lionsdenkxip after going unsold at the @IPL players' auction. #IPL10 #IPL2017.

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 4, 2017

Making his debut for India way back in 2007, Ishant remained in the shadows of Zaheer Khan for the early part of his career before emerging as the spearhead after the latter’s retirement. His exceptional spell to Ricky Ponting during the infamous 2008 series at Perth is still etched in every Indian cricket lovers’ mind. It was heartening to see an Indian fast bowler making life difficult for one of the greatest batsmen of the generation.

In the recent Test series against Australia, Ishant played more of the supportive role and held one end up with his tight bowling. He wasn’t as lethal as his partner Umesh Yadav who finished the season with 30 wickets to his credit. The speedster was eventually dropped for the final Test in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the team management cited Bhuvi to be a more potent option especially in seaming conditions at Dharamsala.