Highlights
- 33-year-old Ishant is not in rhythm but he has experience of more than 100 Test matches
- Veteran fast bowler Umesh Yadav’s bowling speed decreased with age
- Ishant can trouble hosts South Africa’s batsmen with his length
Ishant Sharma’s experience may outweigh Umesh Yadav’s brilliant outswinger ability to replace injured Mohammad Siraj when the Indian team management takes the field for the third and deciding Test of the series against South Africa.
Siraj suffered a muscle strain while bowling on the first day of the second Test, due to which he could only bowl 15.5 overs during the entire match. Coach Rahul Dravid admitted that his injury affected the team’s strategy while defending 240 runs in the fourth innings.
Ishant has experience of playing 100 Tests
When the Indian team takes the field for the third Test to be played at Newlands on January 11, it will have two experienced bowlers as a substitute for Siraj. In this, 33-year-old Ishant is not in the best form but he has experience of more than 100 Test matches.
Umesh’s speed dropped
The other option is 34-year-old Umesh, who has 51 Tests to his name and has been better than Ishant in recent times but his pace has declined with age.
In the next match, it is expected that captain Virat Kohli will make a comeback from injury. It is more likely that he and coach Dravid will prefer the Delhi pacer over Umesh.
Ishant can trouble the host batsmen with his length
The biggest reason for this could be that Ishant’s height is six feet three inches and his height can trouble the South African batsmen. South Africa’s tall bowlers Marco Janssen and Duane Olivier have been able to take advantage of this in this series.
Former selector agreed to feed Ishant
Dravid had said, ‘It felt like the ball was moving a little too much for him. The reason for this could be the tall stature of their bowlers. Even former selection committee chairman MSK Prasad agreed that Ishant should be given a chance.
“We missed a tall fast bowler in Johannesburg. We have only Ishant. On such pitches, I would put him ahead of Umesh. If it was an Indian pitch, Umesh would have been the first choice.
‘Ishant should get preference in Newlands’
Former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta said that it will be a really difficult decision. Those who feel that despite Ishant being in poor form in the last few matches, he should still get preference at Newlands.
Dasgupta said, ‘I cannot say whether Kohli has as much faith in Ishant’s ability as he had till 2019. Ishant will get the advantage of length, taking advantage of this, he will hit the ball at a place where the batsmen will be in trouble. He can keep the batsmen tied for a long time by bowling long spells.
He said that Newlands is on the seashore and like the WACA ground in Perth, Cape Town will also help swing bowlers. Here the ball swings slightly.
According to Dasgupta, ‘Newlands Stadium is on the seashore and there are times when there is a high tide and in that case the ball gets out of the pitch more quickly with the help of wind. The high humidity in the air sometimes helps bowlers. Quite the opposite is the case with low tide (ebb or low tide), when the temperature is high, the bowlers do not get much help. But in both the cases, Ishant is a better bowler.
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