Ishant Sharma flourishes on county debut for Sussex

Ishant Sharma emerged as a fiery fast bowler for India in all formats of the game. However, he lost his place in the ODI and T20I squad and became a specialist in Test cricket, the longest format of the game. The last few years for the Indian pacer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has also been rough. He has been expensive and played a handful of games in the last few seasons.

In the ongoing edition of the tournament, he remained unsold and subsequently, was approached by Sussex to play for them in the Specsavers County Championship Two. The County played their first game against Warwickshire and the four-day game ended in a draw. The Delhi-born pacer dished out a couple of impressive spells, which helped his team perform decently.

Ishant Sharma racking up wickets

He ended with match figures of 29.2-7-69-5, which shows that he has been effective throughout. In the first innings, he picked up the three wickets of Wilfred Rhodes, Adam Hose and wicket-keeper batsman Tim Ambrose. Among the three, Ambrose threatened the most as he built a tenth wicket partnership of 77 runs off 133 balls with 32-year old fast-bowler Chris Wright.

By the time Warwickshire’s second innings started, the match wasn’t poised to produce a result in favour of either side. Meanwhile, Ishant nipped out a couple of wickets of Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, which gave Sussex some moments to cheer before the close of play on the final day. Following the dismissal of the stalwarts, Dominic Sibley and Adam Hose ensured that the home team doesn’t face further hiccups.

From Ishant’s perspective, such performances would keep him in good stead ahead of India’s upcoming tour against England, which includes four Tests. Sussex will next play Leicestershire from April 20. Meanwhile, the likes of Virat Kohli has also chosen an English County-  Surrey- for preparation for the upcoming Test series.

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Five wickets for @ImIshant on his @CountyChamp debut! ?

Highlights from day four of our season opener vs. Warwickshire are available now. #gosbts

➡️https://t.co/dS7WoXhAyj pic.twitter.com/r3gx944P8C

— Sussex CCC (@SussexCCC) April 17, 2018

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