Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir
Ishant Sharma [Photo-Indian Express]

Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma completed 300 wickets in Test cricket, 14 years after his debut. Ishant reached the milestone by trapping England’s Dan Lawrence LBW on day four of ongoing India vs England first Test match in Chennai.

Ishant, who hails from Delhi, had made his India Test debut against Bangladesh in 2007 and since then has become a permanent member of the red-ball squad. He played second fiddle to Zaheer Khan until the left-armer’s retirement in 2015 and took over as the leader of the pace attack with Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Umesh Yadav as his fellow pacers.

Ishant Sharma, Jos Buttler
Ishant Sharma [Image Credits: Twitter]
This is Ishant Sharma’s 98th Test match and before this encounter, he had 297 Test wickets in 97 matches. He has an average of 32.39 and a strike rate of 61.10, with his best figures being 7/74 against England in a terrific win at Lord’s in the 2014 series. He has grown from strength to strength recently, altering his bowling length and line and reaped huge rewards as well.

Rise and rise of Ishant Sharma- the current leader of India’s pace attack

One of the most memorable spells of Ishant Sharma remains his fiery attack on Australia’s Ricky Ponting at the fastest pitch in the world in WACA, Perth during the 2008 Test series. Ishant peppered Ricky Ponting with short-pitched deliveries and moved the ball in and away from him. The then Australia captain kept playing and missing and eventually was out caught in slips off Ishant.

Ishant Sharma has been a Test specialist for some time now, with his last white-ball international match coming in 2016. He has become the workhorse bowler for India, bowling the hard overs and keeping the runs down at one end, so that the spinners can do their job in India.

Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma during his 7-7454 at Lord’s 2014 (Photo-News18)

Overseas, however, Ishant Sharma has played a huge role, especially in India’s maiden Test series win in Australia in 2018-19, leading the pace attack with Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah.

He recently missed India’s Test series win Australia due to an injury he sustained during the IPL 2020 but came back with vigor in the first Test against England.

Meanwhile, in the ongoing Test, India made 337 in reply to England’s first innings total of 578. Rishabh Pant made 91 and Washington Sundar made 85, as Dom Bess picked 4/76. Meanwhile, England lost 4 quick wickets in the second innings, of which one fell to Ishant Sharma, while Ashwin picked the other three.

Here is how Twitter praised Ishant Sharma on reaching his milestone:

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