Ishant Sharma reveals the best spell of his Test sojourn

Ishant Sharma, the tall and lanky Indian fast bowler, has revealed the spell he bowled in the 2014 Lord’s Test as his most favourite in the longest format. The 31-year-old returned wicketless in the first innings, but churned out seven wickets for 74 runs in the second to guide India to a 95-run victory. In his 13-year-old Test career, those figures at the Home of Cricket remain as his best.

In his Test journey, Ishant has sent down a number of jaw-dropping spells, one of which came in the 2007 Perth Test. There he made Ricky Ponting strain throughout and went on to dismiss him twice at the W.A.C.A. Both times, Ishant found his outside edge and Rahul Dravid took sharp catches in the slip cordon. However, the Delhi-born has rated the Lord’s one higher than the spell in Perth.

“If you see the kind of performances that I am putting in recent times, those are much better spells than what I bowled to Ponting. The Lord’s spell was a much better spell,” Ishant was quoted as saying in an exclusive interview with Cricbuzz.

Ishant Sharma’s Player of the Match show at the Lord’s

At the Lord’s, Ishant started the carnage, getting rid of Ian Bell. From there, there was no stopping him as he ran through England’s top and middle order with sheer ease and authority. Ishant’s incredible display of bowling shot the Brits out for 223 and he was blessed with the Player of the Match award.

Though he admitted the spell in Perth as a “career-defining” one, he doesn’t rate it as his best since back then he was taking baby steps in cricket at the highest level.

“Actually, that spell was never such grand for me to be very honest. Yes, it was a career-defining for me but I never thought that was the best spell of my life. The reason being, at that point in time, I didn’t know anything about cricket,” he added.

Like Lord’s, even in the Perth Test, India came out trumps, that time by 72 runs. At the W.A.C.A, apart from the legendary Ponting, Ishant also got rid of the likes of Michael Clarke.