5 modern day support bowlers who never got the credit they deserved

#3 Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma, the hero who turns up when everybody else goes missing

There are few players in world cricket right now who are trolled as much as Ishant Sharma is. It’s quite strange to be honest. When he started off against Australia in 2007-08, he was India’s heartthrob. Praise and love was all people had for him as he made a mockery of Ricky Ponting’s defence down under. He continued in the same vein for a year, before his form and eventually his speed started tailing off.

The honeymoon period was over. Ishant stopped taking wickets. He stopped getting the love he used to. He got to know how fickle the fans are. He got to know how tough it is to be an international cricketer.

Unlike the others in this list, Ishant had a fair share of limelight, but always for non-performance. No matter how hard he tried, how well he bowled, people always found faults with him. That early impressive burst had set unrealistic expectations. He was never that good. It was just an extended period of great form. But those expectations, of being India’s next big fast bowling hope, they didn’t vanish. So, whatever he did after that, people never gave him enough credit.

Ishant Sharma has bowled very well in partnerships, earlier with Zaheer Khan and now with Ravichandran Ashwin. He doesn’t take wickets, but he creates chances (which are almost never taken), he makes the batsmen make mistakes, he dents their confidence. He rarely gets the wickets, though. He is unlucky, very, absolutely, definitely. Plain and simple.

Ishant is just 26 and he has played 64 Test matches. That is quite an achievement for a fast bowler. While 192 wickets at an average of 37 is pretty mediocre, these figures don’t reflect the entire story. That of dropped catches, half chances, flat wickets, old balls, defensive fields and long spells.

At Lords 2014, Ishant Sharma had luck going his way, he was on fire. He bounced England out during his matchwinning seven wicket display in the second innings. That was one victory, one performance for which he was given full credit. People failed to notice that it was the one rare occasion where he was used as the main strike bowler.

Ashwin was not playing and Bhuvneshwar Kumar was exhausted beyond limits. Ishant was given credit because that day he was the hero, not the supporting cast. When he’s not a hero, that credit doesn’t seem to be given to him. But he’s not the hero, it’s only when the others go missing that he will be. Supporting the hero is his role in the team. That shouldn’t take anything away from him. His role is just as important.