England vs India 5th Test: Ishant Sharma Leaves the Field After Bowling Just 8 Overs

Team India has been plagued with yet another injury as speedster Ishant Sharma left the field on Day 4 of the 5^th and the final Test at the Kennington Oval. He just bowled one over before feeling the pain on his left ankle. As per reports in the News 18, Ishant is currently being nursed by the physios. It is highly unlikely the lanky fast bowler will take the field again.

Ishant was quite impressive in the 1^st innings and returned as the most successful Indian bowler. He bagged 3 crucial wickets to finish with figures of 3/62 in 31 overs. Ishant bagged the wickets of Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Sam Curran. Meanwhile, in the 2^nd innings, he got the luxury of bowling only 8 overs before leaving the field.

Ishant has arguably been the standout bowler for India in the series bagging 18 wickets in 5 matches at an average of 24.27. He bagged a five-wicket haul in the 2^nd innings of the Edgbaston. Since then he hasn’t gone wicketless in any of the innings he has bowled.

Ishant earlier played for Sussex in Division two of the Championship under the watchful guidance of former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie. His stint with Sussex has definitely helped him get back his lost rhythm. He was quite magnificent in the series. After a long time, Ishant bowled consistently all through an overseas Test series.

Meanwhile, India has been jolted with injuries from the beginning of the Test series. They missed the services of Bhuvneshwar Kumar throughout the Test series. On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t available in the first two Tests. Ravichandran Ashwin who was injured in the 3^rd Test further aggravated his injury by bowling in the 4^th Test at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. Virat Kohli himself gave the statement during the toss.

England are currently in a dominating position in the final Test and are well set to take the series 4-1. After being a well-fought series, India have fallen off the radar in the final Test and are staring down a big defeat on the final day.