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It was a promising sign of the upward arc of Indian cricket that the player judged the most outstanding contributor to their 2-0 series victory over Australia was also the youngest.
Straggly-haired paceman Ishant Sharma, 20, was the best bowler on either side by a distance, repeatedly making the initial breakthroughs that destabilised the visitors’ batting and ultimately allowed the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble to enjoy the thrill of beating the Australians one final time.
Sharma’s final series figures of 15 wickets at 27.06 with best bowling figures of 4-77 do not accurately reflect the hold he had over the tourists.
He routinely found life in the ball and the wicket where the Australians had found none, and his mastery of Australian captain Ricky Ponting was every bit as pronounced throughout the four matches as it was during the memorable spell to him in Perth earlier this year that first marked Sharma as one for the future.
No-one who witnessed it will forget the dastardly off cutter with which Sharma defeated Ponting in the second innings of India’s victory in the second Test at Mohali, a dismissal that in hindsight broke the back of Australia’s bid to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“My best wicket was taking Ponting in the second innings at Mohali,” Sharma said.
“I think in Indian wickets, you have to be patient and bowl in the right areas. All the senior players supported me; that’s why I bowled well.
“I know how your body recovers and I know quite a lot about my body (fitness) now.
“Zaheer (Khan) has quite a bit of experience and he has constantly advised me about two things: be patient and bowl in the right areas.”
While it may be a tad early to grant him the title of world’s best fast bowler, as some already have, there is no reason to doubt that Sharma will claim that title if he continues to bowl with the same combination of speed, swing, seam and relentless accuracy that has so unnerved the Australians.
Ponting said that Sharma and his left-arm offsider Zaheer Khan had clearly shown themselves to be the more resourceful performers in unhelpful conditions.
“There’s no doubt they’ve used the conditions, they’ve used the ball, they’ve had a chance to bowl on older wickets, we’ve bowled first in the last three Tests where it’s hard ot get the ball reversing till really late in the day’s play,” Ponting said.
“Their batsmen have outbatted us as well. I’ve played 120 odd Tests and we’re still learning a lot about the game.”
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