Decoding Ishant Sharma: Slow starter to match-winner!

2014 was Ishant Sharma's best year in terms of performance. He had 38 wickets in eight Tests, including the match-winning 7 for 74 against England at Lord’s.

Rajneesh Gupta decodes the pacer's career, which after an indifferent start seems to be living up to the initial promise.

Handed the responsibility of leading India’s bowling attack, Ishant Sharma is living up to expectations.

The Delhi pacer played a major role in the 2-1 Test series triumph in Sri Lanka, the first for India in the island nation after a long wait of 22 years.

Ishant, who took 13 wickets in the series, also became the eighth Indian bowler to scale the 200-wicket mark in Test cricket.

After Zaheer Khan's exit from the team, the onus was on Ishant to guide the next crop of Indian fast bowlers. Going by his performances in the last 12 months he is doing a pretty good job.

Rajneesh Gupta decodes the pacer's career, which after an indifferent start, seems to be living up to the initial promise.

Indian bowlers with 200-wickets in Tests:

	Mts	Wkts	Avg	SR	5WI	10WM
Anil Kumble	132	619	29.65	65.99	35	8
Kapil Dev	131	434	29.64	63.92	23	2
Harbhajan Singh	103	417	32.46	68.54	25	5
Zaheer Khan	92	311	32.94	60.40	11	1
Bishan Singh Bedi	67	266	28.71	80.32	14	1
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar	58	242	29.74	65.96	16	2
Javagal Srinath	67	236	30.49	64.00	10	1
Ishant Sharma	65	200	36.51	65.24	7	1

Among the Indian bowlers to take 200 wickets, Ishant is the slowest, having attained the landmark in 65 Tests.

Harbhajan Singh is the fastest Indian to the 200 wickets mark, having done it in 46 matches, while his former spin colleague Anil Kumble did it in 47.

Tests taken by Indian bowlers to reach 200 wickets:

Bowler	Mts
Harbhajan Singh	46
Anil Kumble	47
B Chandrasekhar	48
Kapil Dev	50
Bishan Singh Bedi	51
Javagal Srinath	54
Zaheer Khan	63
Ishant Sharma	65

If you check out Ishant’s career progress in terms of 50-wicket brackets, it is clear that the fast bowler has hit a purple patch lately.

He took 33 Tests to get his first 100 wickets but slowed down considerably thereafter, taking as many as 21 Tests to get another 50.

His showing improved rapidly since then as the next 50 scalps came from only 11 Tests.

Ishant’s progress to 200 wickets:

1st 50 wickets	17 Tests
Next 50 wickets	16 Tests
Next 50 wickets	21 Tests
Last 50 wickets	11 Tests

Ishant has the most number of wickets (45) against Australia, the team against whom he played the most number of Tests (19) till date.

His best average is against New Zealand, against whom he has taken 30 wickets in six matches, while against South Africa he claimed just 20 wickets in eight Tests.

Performance against each country:

Country	Mts	Wkts	Best	Avg	SR	RPO	5WI	10WM
v Australia	19	45	4-77	44.86	80.96	3.32	0	0
v England	11	35	7-74	38.31	72.00	3.19	1	0
v New Zealand	6	30	6-51	25.63	44.93	3.42	2	0
v Sri Lanka	10	28	5-54	38.64	62.89	3.68	1	0
v West Indies	6	27	6-55	26.22	51.74	3.04	2	1
v South Africa	8	20	4-79	47.95	82.85	3.47	0	0
v Bangladesh	4	10	4-66	28.40	48.60	3.50	0	0
v Pakistan	1	5	5-118	28.00	47.00	3.57	1	0
TOTAL	65	200	7-74	36.51	65.24	3.35	7	1

Like is the case with all players, Ishant also enjoys bowling in the comforts of home pitches in India, taking 62 wickets in 22 Tests.

However, his best record is in the West Indies -- 22 wickets from three matches, at an average of 16.

Performance in each country:

	Mts	Wkts	Best	Avg	SR	RPO	5WI	10WM
in India	22	62	5-118	33.46	66.40	3.02	1	0
in Sri Lanka	9	26	5-54	36.42	60.12	3.63	1	0
in England	7	25	7-74	40.84	69.24	3.53	1	0
in New Zealand	5	23	6-51	30.91	52.26	3.54	2	0
in West Indies	3	22	6-55	16.86	33.77	2.99	2	1
in Australia	10	20	3-38	62.15	105.45	3.53	0	0
in South Africa	5	12	4-79	54.16	91.33	3.55	0	0
in Bangladesh	4	10	4-66	28.40	48.60	3.50	0	0
Home	22	62	5-118	33.46	66.40	3.02	1	0
Away	43	138	7-74	37.87	64.71	3.51	6	1

Since his debut in 2007, Ishant was always earmarked as a special talent but consistency was never his forte. In the first few years he enjoyed a roller-coaster ride and dropped from the squad a few times, but seems to have hit top gear in the last couple of years.

2014 was his best year in terms of performance as he picked up 38 wickets in eight Tests, including the match-winning spell of 7 for 74 against England at Lord’s.

In terms of wicket-taking, 2011 was the most profitable year, with 43 wickets coming from 12 Tests, though with a strike rate in the high 60s.

Performance in each calendar year:

Year	Mts	Wkts	Best	Avg	SR	RPO	5WI	10WM
2007	2	6	5-118	31.50	52.17	3.62	1	0
2008	13	38	4-77	31.60	61.97	3.05	0	0
2009	4	10	4-73	46.90	76.40	3.68	0	0
2010	11	33	4-43	37.57	58.85	3.83	0	0
2011	12	43	6-55	36.69	68.07	3.23	2	1
2012	5	7	3-49	75.57	138.00	3.28	0	0
2013	6	12	4-79	48.16	93.50	3.09	0	0
2014	8	38	7-74	31.36	54.63	3.44	3	0
2015	4	13	5-54	25.07	44.77	3.36	1	0

 The breakdown of his career in two parts -- before 2013 and after – reveals the entire story.

Before 2013, his strike rate was 69.72 for 149 wickets in 53 Tests, but since then he improved drastically, claiming 51 wickets in 12 matches at a strike rate of 52.

	Mts	Wkts	Best	Avg	SR	RPO	5WI	10WM
upto 2013	53	149	6-55	38.81	69.72	3.34	3	1
since 2014	12	51	7-74	29.76	52.11	3.44	4	0

If you break it down further, in span of 10 Tests each, you will again notice the dramatic rise in his performance in the last 15 Tests.

The worst period was easily between 41 to 50 when he took just 14 wickets in 10 Tests, with a strike rate of 136.

Performance in each span of 10 Tests

Match #	Mts	Wkts	Best	Avg	SR	R/6bO	5WI	10WM
1 - 10	10	30	5-118	31.67	58.23	3.26	1	0
11 - 20	10	29	4-73	34.62	63.90	3.25	0	0
21 - 30	10	28	4-43	40.89	63.36	3.87	0	0
31 - 40	10	40	6-55	34.70	61.70	3.37	2	1
41 - 50	10	14	3-49	66.86	136.50	2.94	0	0
51 - 60	10	44	7-74	31.82	54.55	3.50	3	0
61 - 65	5	15	5-54	31.93	59.60	3.21	1	0

What is important, though, is Ishant’s contribution in India’s victories.

He was part of 25 Test wins in which he has claimed 90 wickets, at a strike rate of 50, while in matches lost he was quite poor, with just 47 wickets coming from 21 games, at a rate of just over two wickets per Test match.

Performance in Won / Lost / Drawn matches:

	Mts	Wkts	Best	Avg	SR	RPO	5WI	10WM
in WON matches	25	90	7-74	26.40	50.52	3.13	2	0
in LOST matches	21	47	6-134	56.14	90.34	3.72	1	0
in DRAWN matches	19	63	6-51	36.30	67.52	3.22	4	1

Majority of Ishant’s victims are right-handers, as seen in the table below.

128 out of his 200 victims are right-handers, making it 64 percent as compared to 36 left-handers.

Details of victims

	Wkts	%
Right-handed batsmen	128	64.00
Left-handed batsmen	72	36.00

Like most fast bowlers, Ishant does make the new ball count as can be seen in his wicket distribution according to batting positions.

 His most frequent victims have been openers, accounting for 47 of them among, including 26 of the No. 2 batsmen.

Majority of his wickets are top order batsmen, as much 67 percent, amounting to 133 wickets in sum.

Victims distribution – position-wise:

1st position	19
2nd position	26
3rd position	24
4th position	23
5th position	19
6th position	22
7th position	16
8th position	12
9th position	18
10th position	14
11th position	7
Top-6	133	66.50%
Bottom-5	67	33.50%

Mode of dismissals:

Bowled	39
Caught in the field	78
Caught by keeper	56
Caught & bowled	1
LBW	26

Australian and English batsmen are among Ishant’s most favourable victims.

England captain Alastair Cook was dismissed the most by him, eight times in all, while Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Ian Bell fell to the Indian pacer seven times each.

Favourite victims:

Alastair Cook	8
Shane Watson	7
Ricky Ponting	7
Michael Clarke	7
Ian Bell	7

Ishant’s best bowling performance in an innings so far is the 7-74 he took against England at Lord’s, which helped India win the Test last year.

Interestingly, out of the seven times he claimed five wickets or more, India won only twice, including the recently-concluded third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Best performances in an innings:

Figures	Opp	Venue	Season	Result
7-74	Eng	Lord's	2014	Won
6-51	NZ	Wellington	2013-14	Drawn
6-55	WI	Bridgetown	2011	Drawn
6-134	NZ	Auckland	2013-14	Lost
5-54	SL	Colombo SSC	2015	Won
5-77	WI	Roseau	2011	Drawn
5-118	Pak	Bangalore	2007-08	Drawn

Also read: India's Report Card: 10 for Ashwin; 9 for Ishant!