Looking back at how the Indians fared in their recent County stints

Image result for ishant sharma and cheteshwar pujara

Usually, the months of April and May are action-packed as the Indian Premier League is in full swing. In recent years, there hasn’t been a lot of international games as well. It is only England who start their summer in late May and hence only a few international games coincide with the IPL matches.

However, County Championship starts in April and this time three Indians (who were unsold in the IPL auctions) traveled to England and played there for more than a couple of months. Cheteshwar Pujara has been a regular County player as he’s been going to England quite regularly in the past few years. Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron were the two others who featured in the County sides. While Pujara represented Yorkshire, Ishant featured in Sussex line-up and Aaron was a part of the Leicestershire side.

Hence, let’s have a quick look at how these three players performed for their respective County sides.


Cheteshwar Pujara (Yorkshire)

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Cheteshwar Pujara had a good One-Day tournament but failed miserably in the four-day format.

Cheteshwar Pujara has become a regular overseas player in the County Championship in the last few years. This was his fourth County stint and almost every year he’s been traveling to England to get some sort of experience.

Having started off with Derbyshire in 2014, Pujara played for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire in 2015 and 2017 respectively. India’s premier No. 3 batsman returned to Yorkshire this year.

Unlike his previous stints where he contributed well, this year he struggled. In red-ball cricket, he looked completely out of sorts as he managed to score just 100 runs in 8 innings at a woeful average of 12.50. His highest score was 41 which came in the second innings in the game against Essex.

But to everyone’s surprise, Pujara came good in the shorter format (Royal London One-Day Cup) as he amassed 370 runs at an average of 61.66. What took everyone by surprise was his strike-rate which was 90.90. He struck 3 fifties and 1 hundred in 7 innings.

Hence, Pujara looked woefully out of form in the four-day format but turned it around in the One-Day games.

Ishant Sharma (Sussex)

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Playing for Sussex, Ishant Sharma had a wonderful stint.

It’s been more than a decade since Ishant Sharma made his international debut as a tall and promising pacer. One of his early memories is that famous spell to Ricky Ponting where he troubled the then Aussie skipper.

However, Ishant hasn’t quite been consistent and hence has been in and out of the Indian team. In recent times, the 29-year-old Delhi pacer has been bowling well and looks in good shape. And after he was snubbed at the auctions earlier this year, he decided to take part in the County Championship.

In his maiden County stint, Ishant Sharma fared very well playing for Sussex. Ishant was quite consistent and looked in very good rhythm. He hit the right lengths and troubled the batsmen. In 4 games, the Delhi fast bowler scalped 15 wickets and is currently the third highest wicket-taker for Sussex in the County Championship. He didn’t get a fifer to his name but was brilliant throughout his stint.

Not only with the ball, the lanky pacer was also quite handy with the bat. He scored his maiden first-class half-century and scored 102 runs in 6 innings (which is more than what Pujara managed). Ishant fared very well even in white-ball cricket as he took 8 wickets in 5 games in the Royal London One-Day Championship.

He had to miss out on a few games due to a shoulder injury but it was a very good stint for Ishant and looked in good rhythm and shape throughout the two months.

Varun Aaron (Leicestershire)

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Varun Aaron had a patchy stint with Leicestershire.

It’s been more than two and a half years since Varun Aaron played for India. The Jharkhand pacer last represented India in November 2015 in a Test match against South Africa in Bengaluru (where 4 days were washed out). He went to England and represented Leicestershire as a replacement for Pakistani pacer Mohammed Abbas (who was a key member of the Pakistan side in the Test series against England).

Aaron looked really good in patches and wasn’t consistent. He played a total of 9 games (3 first-class games and 6 One-Day games). He picked up 9 wickets in 3 first-class games and in one game he starred with the ball picking up 6 wickets (4/65 and 2/66) against Glamorgan helping Leicestershire register a narrow win.

In the Royal London One-Day Cup, he has taken 7 wickets in 6 games but has not taken part in the games since the start of June due to an injury. Hence, it was an indifferent stint for Aaron but this maiden County experience will only help him get better.

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Edited by Amar Anand