Truthful Tuesday | India should overlook Ishant Sharma as first-choice option at home on merit

In the last five years, Ishant Sharma has not just set a reputation for himself as the leader of the Indian pace attack but lived upto the reputation of it as well, with his continued success. Across 17 Tests since the start of 2016, Ishant has picked up 61 wickets, all at an average of 21.59 and an incredible strike-rate of 47, including three fifers. While not just that, he has ensured to be the bind, leader and controller of this Indian bowling attack away from home. He was there, when India won their first Test series in Australia, he was leading the bowling attack and standing as a prime example. 

Undoubtedly, Ishant is India’s work-horse, has been since the beginning of the last era and has put his sweat, blood and hard work into Indian cricket and it’s success in world cricket but his dominance at home has always been superseded by the spinners, who end up as the wicket-takers. In the sub-continent, where the pacers don’t have a lot of workloads, especially bowling the long-spells, the lanky pacer has been spared by the duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. In the recent series against England, it was further elucidated that Axar Patel and Ashwin were enough to pick the bulk of English wickets, with Ishant sparingly used by Kohli. 

While the pacers didn’t have much work to do during the Test series, Mohammed Siraj, who played in two Tests - in Chennai and Ahmedabad, picked up 3 wickets at an average of 22.66. Not just that, Siraj’s home record, especially in domestic cricket - 168 wickets at an average of 23.90 and a strike-rate of 46.4 is extremely appealing. With Ishant being a prerequisite for the away tour and his form on the downfall in the country, India should rather invest their immediate future in Mohammed Siraj - a bowler who can not just be an enforcer but also could control the game and be a game-changer. 

In the fourth Test, against England, in Ahmedabad, where the conditions were slightly favouring the pacers - it was Mohammed Siraj’s spell which changed the course of the English innings. The Hyderabad pacer, who came on to bowl with the new-ball, picked up the important wickets of Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root - both of which came by the tailing delivery, which not just caught the two English batsmen by surprise but also for pace. Relatively, they have found it easy to battle against Ishant Sharma with the older delivery, unlike Siraj. 

Despite Shami’s fitness, in the last two years - the right-arm pacer has picked up 24 wickets, at an average of 15.04 with a strike-rate of 33.5, which suggests that he would be a sure-shot starter when fit. When India have a plethora of pace bowling options, especially at home, purely on the basis of merit - it is only a matter of time before Ishant Sharma is axed from the squad, becoming an away specialist. 

Over the last few months, Siraj has shown himself as a rare breed of talent in the country - especially on the slow and sluggish surface, where his pace has often made the batsmen struggle. In his short Test career, where most of the games have come away from home, Siraj has picked up 16 wickets, at an average of 28, showcasing himself as a prime option for Kohli, especially given that his fitness levels are extremely high, as seen in Australia.