Some time back I had written to admire Ishant Sharma’s fast bowling in the Perth Test tht India won.
Seeing young Ishant Sharma and S. Sreeshanth bowl their opening spell in yesterday’s ODI against Australia was a thrilling experience for all of us. Fans of my generation have for years seen Indian batsmen made to jump by fast men from all over the world. It was nice to see the Indian pace men make the Aussies hop around.
Ravi Shastri summed it up by saying that seldom have we seen an Indian opening pair bowl so fast and so well. Sharma took the crucial wickets of Hayden, Ponting and Symonds in his spell of 4 for 38 in 9.1 overs.
Ponting, considered one of the best batsmen in the world now, had to concede that the 19 year old was a “dangerous bowler”.
Sharma consistently bowled at speeds of over 140 km. p.h. His fastest was clocked at 149.9 km.p.h. What was admirable was that he did not lose his cool even after Hayden took 18 runs of one over.
India beat Australia by 5 wickets thanks to Dhoni and young Rohit Sharma guiding them to a win after some anxious moments.
This was India’s first one-day win against Australia at Melbourne after 22 years.
Young talent should be groomed. As I have said before, we have a winner here.
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