Chennai: Ishant Sharma became only the third Indian fast bowler to take 300 Test wickets after dismissing England batsman Daniel Lawrence in the ongoing first Test at the MA Chidambram Stadium on Monday.
Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan are the two pacers ahead of him, with 434 and 311 wickets, respectively.
Anil Kumble is the highest wicket-taker for India in Tests with 619 dismissals to his name. Ishant, who returned to the playing XI after missing the Australia tour due to injury, has looked in fine form.
In England’s first innings, the lanky pacer took two wickets, giving away just 52 runs off 27 overs.
On Monday, the 32-year-old didn’t have the chance to bowl with the new ball with captain Virat Kohli opting to go with Ravichandran Ashwin and Shahbaz Nadeem. But after being brought into the attack, Ishant struck in his second over, trapping Lawrence plumb in front of the stumps for his 300th Test scalp.
Harbhajan Singh and current teammate Ravichandran Ashwin are the other bowlers ahead of Ishant in the top wicket-takers’ list for India.
Ishant hadn’t played an international match for nearly a year before the ongoing Test against England in Chennai. With young pacer Mohammed Siraj impressing during India’s historic Test series win in Australia, Ishant had stiff competition to get into the playing XI.
But the Indian team management put faith in the veteran pacer and he repaid with two wickets on a placid batting track in England’s first innings. After a slow start where he failed to find his best rhythm in his first spell, Ishant bowled brilliantly thereafter causing a few problems for even Joe Root.
His first wicket came in the 170th over, knocking over Jos Buttler, who for some reason decided to not to offer a shot to an in-dipping delivery.
On achieving the feat, Ishant, said, ‘It’s been quite a roller-coaster life. I’ve had a lot of experience, a lot of mentors who taught me how to bowl in the subcontinent and how to bowl abroad. I’m a bit sore, after bowling 4-over bursts in domestic cricket, and then bowling 35 overs within a gap of just 3-4 days.
If we get a good start tomorrow, we can chase this down, because we have a batting line-up that is fearless and can chase this down, and it’s important to look at 381 runs and not 9 wickets. On the first two days, the pitch was not assisting us and the spinners, it felt like we played on a road, but it started turning later on in Day 4 and it was a lot more responsive then.’