Growing up pains: Has Ishant gone the Bhajji way?

19 January, 2008. It was a Saturday. The skies over Perth were clear and every ball that Ishant bowled in the second innings was accompanied by general murmur of appreciation. It was the day when Ishant made Ponting look like a school boy. For more than an hour, the thin-as-a-stick 19-year-old from India tormented the Australia skipper – his line and length was immaculate – and then finally got his wicket. The scoreboard will show that Ishant took one wicket for 63. But for those who witnessed that spell, it was the birth of a new star – one who was expected to guide India to new heights in the coming days. But by the time Ishant embarks on his second tour of Australia – four years apart, the question we are all asking is whether he has fulfilled that potential. That day in January gave us a glimpse of potential that should have matured into some serious star quality by now. Instead what do we have? A bowler who has a few good spells and plenty of bad ones – indeed, if you look at the numbers, his struggle has been no better than that of Harbhajan Singh, who took 28 wickets in 8 matches at an average of 36.07. In 13 matches during the last 12 months, the paceman has taken 45 wickets at 37.44. But here’s the sad bit. Of those 45 wickets, he took 22 at an average of 16.86 against the West Indies on India’s recent tour of the Caribbean. [caption id=“attachment_146870” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Ishant Sharma needs to get his act together. Reuters”]  [/caption] In South Africa earlier, he had taken 7 wickets at 48.14. In England after West Indies, he took 11 wickets at 58.18 and against the West Indies in India, he took just 5 wickets at 67.40. So if you take the West Indies tour out of the picture, Ishant has clearly been India’s worst bowler in recent times. The numbers, if anything, are startling and a cruel indication of just how far Ishant has fallen. Still the Indian selectors continue to back him. He is even carrying an injury, which needs acute management. So why is India still persisting with him? Is it because we have no other options? Or simply because at some point they are hoping that his potential will finally be realised. At around the same time as Ishant’s debut, Australia’s Mitchell Johnson burst onto the scene. And after almost four years in international cricket, they’ve played around the same number of matches too – Ishant, 41 and Johnson, 47. But the difference in the number of wickets is quite huge. Ishant has taken just 121 wickets to Johnson’s 190. Yet, while there were calls for Johnson to be dropped, there has been nothing of the sort for Ishant in recent times. Part of that has to do with Zaheer Khan’s absence – the selectors probably felt they needed a senior bowler around. But if a senior isn’t performing, is it any good having him around? There are technical issues with his bowling as the experts point out – his left-shoulder is dropping a tad too much and the wrist is not always behind the ball, robbing him off pace. But there are bigger issues with the mind. If Ishant is satisfied with what he’s achieved with his career so far, he should be dropped. If he isn’t, then he should be getting help. Either way, with numbers like those, he doesn’t deserve to take the new ball for India in Australia. Umesh Yadav seems determined to learn and he is improving with every outing. He deserves a go ahead of Ishant. Perhaps that will inspire Ishant to show us his true self and even replicate the form of the summer of 2008. Till then, we can only live with the memory of one glorious afternoon that had Ponting jumping around like a bunny.