Why this is the best performance of Ishant Sharma's career so far

Ishant Sharma

India seem to be well on course to win their first Test series in Sri Lanka after a gap of 22 years on Tuesday, unless of course Angelo Mathews and the rest of the Sri Lankan batsman bat out of their skins to come close to the target of 386 runs.

All the four days of the Test so far have seen the pitch provide assistance to the quicker bowlers initially. Out of the 30 wickets that have fallen so far, 21 scalps have been taken by the quicker men, which is clearly an indication of the amount of juice on the track.

While Dhammika Prasad has been the most impressive Sri Lankan pacer on view in this game, it is Ishant Sharma from the visitors’ side who has looked most lethal with the red cherry in hand.

No Indian bowler in recent times has received as much flak for his performance as Ishant. The scenes at Mohali when James Faulkner knocked the living daylights out of him are perhaps the first thing that comes to everybody's minds when one talks about the lanky speedster. Few remember his 7-wicket haul at Lord's which helped India win an overseas Test after a gap of three years.

Three years? When India won in the West Indies in 2011, the rupee was still roughly 61-62 to the dollar; it was almost 65 in 2014.

Not many also remember that out of his seven wicket-hauls, five have come outside India and only one outside the subcontinent.

Elimination of the 'loosener'

So what has changed in Ishant's bowling, which is all of a sudden making him look like a dangerous exponent with the ball? For starters, the Delhi paceman isn't committing the mistake that every bowler has done in the past – deliver a loosener off his first delivery and provide the batsman with a freebie first up.

Right from ball one, Ishant has been on the money and has consistently hit the right areas, thereby not allowing the batsman any opportunity to score with ease. The Ishant of the past would invariably spray the ball and let the batsman get off strike, thereby failing to build any pressure.

What has also been different is the fact that while releasing the ball, the seam isn’t wobbling and instead comes out upright, which has enabled him to swing the ball more.

Another feature that has been observed with his bowling in this match is the manner in which he has mixed his deliveries up. Several times in the past, Indian bowlers, not just Ishant, have overused the rising delivery which took the surprise element away. But in the ongoing Test, the short ball has strictly been used as a surprise weapon, as was evident when Dhammika Prasad injured his left hand off the very first ball that he played.

In the past, there have been many instances when India have bowled the full ball to the opposition lower-order first up, but that wasn't the case on Sunday.

The third distinct change has been the way in which he has kept the field in mind and bowled according to that. Umesh Yadav made the error of failing to bowl to his field and was deservingly carted for boundaries in the second innings on Monday. But the Delhiite didn't commit that mistake and was rewarded with two out of the three wickets in the Sri Lankan second innings.

Rise as the leader

Regardless of the result on Tuesday, these are extremely encouraging signs for India as they head into a new era. In the absence of Zaheer Khan, Ishant is expected to lead this attack, and that is the next step that he should take from here on in.

For a long time, he has been spoken about by experts as the man who would carry forward the Indian attack and help India win matches on a consistent basis. Now he is finally showing signs of making good on that promise.

India has a lot of young paceman coming up and it is critical that they have someone who has experienced the crests and troughs. There is no doubting that Ishant has seen both sides of the coin and it is vital that now he steps up and becomes the leader of the pack.