Ishant Sharma: From Glory to Disgrace

I was just 13 when a young lad, about 19 years of age, was tormenting possibly the then world’s best batsman. Ricky Ponting huffed and puffed against a lanky, 6’4’’ tall bowler. I could feel that he was special. He had the height ( which most Indian bowlers never had in comparison to their foriegn compatriots) , he had the seam movement, and finally he had the determination to succeed. But nearly five years down the line, life has come to a full circle, and possibly he is the most hated person of India. Hated for his horrible show to lose the match for India from a winning position.

It would have been un-believable, if i had watched him only in that one match at Perth and the match yesterday. But with myself being an avid cricket follower, I slowly saw him degrading from a future prodigy to nothing.

Primarily playing only in tests, he has not done much special after THAT one spell against Ponting. Yes, he can be excused for not being effective in India. But his performance elsewhere, especially in bowler friendly conditions, has been below par.

The particular reason for this dramatic decline of the talented youngster is his bowling style. He is basically a line-and-length bowler, basically. It is not bad to pitch it in the right areas, and wait for the batsman to make a mistake. A style of bowling once followed by the likes of Glenn Mcgrath and Nathan Bracken. But what did they have which Ishant does not have? Variations.

While Mcgrath used cutters and his height to his advantage, Bracken used to mix it up, and deceive the batsmen with his cunning change of pace. But alas! Ishant never learnt. Infact, when he came into the international arena, he was blessed with a natural in-cutter, coming in sharply after bouncing off the pitch. Also, he used to hit the deck hard, thus getting some extra bounce.

But he just deteoriated.

He lost his natural in-cutter. He actually forgot how to get some extra bounce from the pitch. But then, form comes and goes. But the part where is failed the most - to learn.

James Anderson was in-effective in subcontinent pitches. But he did not give up. By watching and learning from the videos of the then master of reverse swing- Zaheer Khan, he successfully became a force to reckon with in Sub-continent pitches. So here comes my point. If a bowler can learn from bits and pieces of advice and videos, why can’t Ishant learn? considering that they both shared the dressing room for quite a while.

Same goes with his in-ability to learn to swing the ball too. Yes, all two humans are not the same, but there are things that can be learnt from other people, and swinging the ball is one of those things.

He is running out of everything- time, chances and excuses. He needs to pull up his socks, considering that the likes of Mohit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey have been knocking the doors for quite a long time. He needs to learn; learn from his mistakes, learn how to use his height as strength, and become a better bowler. He still has a chance: he has been retained for the remainder of the series. But the chance of him playing is bleak, and so will be his future, if he doesn’t improve.