Ishant Sharma appreciation thread

[PlanetPakistan]

What an awesome young talent!

[JGK]

Indeed. I posted on this board after the first day of the SCG test (which I attended) that he looked the goods. I think he went wicketless that match but he's got all the tools and seems to be learning very quickly.

The big issue will be keeping his frame injury free while the temptation is there to bowl him into the ground.

[leg glancer]

He reminds me of Harmison back in the days when he could actually bowl... and that's partly what worries me. Let's see how he goes over the next three or four series and the bigger picture should start to emerge. I refuse to get carried away, despite his obvious ability. So many quick bowlers (Bond, Akhtar etc) disappear off the radar for all sorts of different reasons. I hope he isn't one of those one season, or even one series wonders.

[Winkle Spinner]

In terms of action, he's more McGrath than Harmison. A bit early for Srinath to be saying he's the best fast bowler in the world, though. I can only imagine he's either immensely partisan or his quote was taken out of context.

[Ash]

bowled one at 153kph today. has crossed 150 on a number of occasions on this tour and average speed is around 145. can move the ball both ways, sharp movement comin in to the RHB and gets good bounce. potential gem for india. alongside santh, munaf, zaheer, RP and pathan....india has a good pool of pace bowlers atm. if the new gen of batsmen can step up, we have a chance of replacing australia as no 1 imho.

[Mick Sawyer]

Bounce, pace & lateral movement. The fundamentals for a huge future are there. Good luck to him.

[Henry]

The push to encourage fast bowling in India from the mid to late 90's onwards through the MRF academy etc seems to be finally paying off. Never thought i'd see an Indian team who's fast bowling was stronger than it's batting. Like yesterday- two 6'6+ Indian fast bowlers charging in and making the Australian batsmen uncomfortable with pace and bounce. Very 'new India'.

I think the young batsmen will eventually get there as well. Yuvraj seems to be gone mentally, and the hope that he would lead the next generartion of Indian batsmen seems to be fading. However a guy like Rohit Sharma has all the talent if he can get the mental side of his game and shot selection right. Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwary are also excellent talent's. There's also a guy like Mohammed Kaif still in the wings. Perhaps India need a fighter like him in the middle order to settle things down a bit. They're all just a bit impetuous at the moment, and they need to develop a calmness about their batting rather than going out there and being all 'gung ho, in your face, i'm gonna smash you' from ball one.

[JGK]

What ever happened to Kaif? He looked to be a talent.

[doremi]

Munaf is going bad, and I'm losing hope that he will ever be as good as he showed glimpses he could be.

Ishant has been absolutely brilliant. Hope they don't bowl him to the ground. Looks to be fit though. Loved how a lot of his wickets have been purely down to pace and bounce.

Pathan looks to be as good as he ever was now. And that's brilliant as far as ODIs are concerned.

As for Kaif he is just where he needs to be, in domestic cricket.

[SG]

Let's see how he goes over the next three or four series and the bigger picture should start to emerge. I refuse to get carried away, despite his obvious ability.

Would agree with this, though I must say he seems to be quite different from India's earlier supposedly pace merchants like Nehra, Munaf etc.

[PlanetPakistan]

I fear India are going to ruin this guy by

a) Hyping him a bit too much and too soon.
b) Playing him in too many ODIs.
c) This whole IPL thing.
d) Making him bowl far too many long spells.

[SG]

Playing him in too many ODIs.

I think at his age he should bowl as many overs as possible. Besides he'll have free time (more than 3 weeks) to recuperate after this tri series for SA series.

[SG]

I fear India are going to ruin this guy by

c) This whole IPL thing.

This I'd agree with.

[Henry]

Pace isn't everything etc, but any argument that he's not India's quickest ever bowler? I guess Srinath in the mid 90's was around the 145-148 km/h mark as well, but the fastest Srinath delivery ever recorded was 149 km/h in 1998, whereas Ishant has already clocked 152 km/h.

His rise has been quite incredible when you consider that 2 years ago Indian fans were salivating because Munaf Patel was clocking 145 km/h.

[Paul Keating]

Has anyone called him Instant Karma yet?

[*Buckaroo*]

Both Sreesanth and Munaf Patel have done 149.

[WideWally]

the fastest Srinath delivery ever recorded was 149 km/h in 1998

I recently read that "Srinath bowled @ 157 V Zim and 156 V RSA". The claim was made by the same bloke that produced those fastest bowling speed lists for Cricinfo.

Personally, I have doubts that Srinath could bowl at that speed unless it was downhill with a hurricane behind him.

[Henry]

Actually I think i've seen RP Singh clocked at close to 150 km/h before as well. About 7 years ago, Zaheer Khan was around the 145 km/h mark.

Any reason why India is now producing genuinely quick bowlers whereas traditional pace stronghold Pakistan is now producing a steady line of military medium pacers like Arafat and that other bloke? Sohail Khan, the supposed latest "Express" Pakistan pace bowler, bowled a fastest ball of 139 km/h recently against Zimbabwe.

[Henry]

the fastest Srinath delivery ever recorded was 149 km/h in 1998

I recently read that "Srinath bowled @ 157 V Zim and 156 V RSA". The claim was made by the same bloke that produced those fastest bowling speed lists for Cricinfo.

Personally, I have doubts that Srinath could bowl at that speed unless it was downhill with a hurricane behind him.

Yeah, but on-screen bowling speeds only really became standard for tv companies around the world from about 2000 onwards. Srinath was past his best pace wise by then, and no doubt that blokes testaments were based on hear say and "eye witness accounts", which are always hella dodgy.

[*Buckaroo*]

Sohail Khan, the supposed latest "Express" Pakistan pace bowler, bowled a fastest ball of 139 km/h recently against Zimbabwe.

I watched him carefully, he needs a lot of body-work. Esp gym work and more strength in the shoulders.

[The One]

srinath on the 96/97 saffie tour did clock a delivery at 154. he was pretty sharp back then, quicker than donald on those speed guns

[Brass Monkey]

srinath on the 96/97 saffie tour did clock a delivery at 154. he was pretty sharp back then, quicker than donald on those speed guns

[*Buckaroo*]

srinath on the 96/97 saffie tour did clock a delivery at 154. he was pretty sharp back then, quicker than donald on those speed guns

bah .. he is a rice-eater, he can never be quicker than Donald. Some cubi sunt tampered with those speed guns.

Or slse those dark skinned bazaar traders from BCCI tampered with those speed guns.

In a straight contest Donald will always win.

[Brass Monkey]

Well, Donald is the better bowler by about the power of 2. He may have outpaced him. Chippy, chippy, chippy, chippy, chippy.











Chippy.

[Ash]

Over the last 5-6 yrs we've had zak, nehra, munaf, santh, rp and now ishant bowling at 90mph plus for a sustained period, and not just the odd delivery. Now that monkey is off our backs, one of these whipper snappers needs to step up and get india 300 test wickets at under 25.

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