5 things that changed between Ishant Sharma’s two five-wicket hauls at home in Tests
Here are the five things in cricket that changed in the course of Ishant Sharma’s two 5-fers at home.
1. IPL was yet to begin
When Ishant got his maiden Test 5-fer, the Twenty20 format was just taking baby steps towards globalizing the sport. The inaugural edition of the World T20 was held in September that year and India claimed the title by defeating Pakistan in a thriller. Incidentally, the Indian Cricket Board announced the launch of a franchise T20 competition on the day India were set to play the first game of that tournament.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) was set to be played in April 2008 and the WT20 win helped to draw the Indian audience. Brendon McCullum struck an unbeaten 158 in the very first match of the tournament playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders. The knock helped IPL to kick start in grand style. Ishant Sharma was in the KKR line-up and drew the first blood for his team.
He dismissed the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Rahul Dravid with the very 1st ball he bowled in the tournament. As many as 12 editions have been completed till date and the tournament remains the most successful cricket league by a fair margin. A number of T20 Leagues came into the scene after the IPL but many of them failed to even earn profits.
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