Ishant Sharma has passed his fitness test at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and will now join the team

[Ankit_sharma03]

Ishant Sharma, India's most experienced fast bowler, will undergo a fitness test on February 15 at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. The results will determine whether or not he will join the India Test squad for the two-match series in New Zealand, which starts in Wellington on February 21. The second Test, in Christchurch, will start on February 29.

The Indians have a tour game slotted for February 14-16 in Hamilton, and if he is cleared, Sharma will fly straight to Wellington in time for the first Test.

On January 21, Sharma - four short of becoming only the second Indian fast bowler after Kapil Dev to reach the landmark of 100 Tests - twisted his right ankle while playing for Delhi in a Ranji Trophy match against Vidarbha at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The injury took place when Sharma turned back to appeal on his follow-through. An official from the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association, based upon an immediate MRI scan, had said the pacer had suffered a Grade 3 tear in his ankle, which put the New Zealand tour in doubt.

 

However, Sharma travelled to the NCA to begin his rehab and has started bowling steadily, allowing the national selectors to include him in the 16-man Test squad for the New Zealand Test series subject to a "fitness clearance".

The Indian team management would hope that Sharma clears the test, considering he has been an integral part of the fast-bowling unit, which has been the backbone of Virat Kohli's India keeping a firm hold as the No. 1 Test ranking for the past few years.

Virat Kohli will definitely want Sharma to link up with the squad, which has Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Navdeep Saini as the other frontline pacers, after a below-par performance in the recent ODI series, which New Zealand swept 3-0. Especially worrying for the Indians was the performance of Bumrah, their spearhead, who went wicketless in the three games.

 

Pandya shows encouraging signs

 

On Wednesday morning, Sharma was spotted alongside team-mate Hardik Pandya at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. It was the same ground where Pandya was last seen in action during the T20I against South Africa on September 22 last year. He was declared unfit recently by the BCCI, which said the allrounder needed more time in rehab to recover fully from the back surgery he underwent in October.

Today, Pandya did his warm-ups in the company of the NCA medical staff at the ground where his domestic team Baroda started their final round of the group stage of the Ranji Trophy against Karnataka. The extent of his fitness, or his recovery timeframe, aren't known yet, but that he faced throwdowns in the nets was an encouraging sign.

The trademark big-hitting was mostly shelved, with Pandya playing with a straight bat. However, on occasion when the ball was banged in short, he did unleash some full-blooded pull shots. Crucially, Pandya didn't seem uncomfortable while moving. His footwork was in place and he was jogging around to pick up balls and pass them to the two men who were feeding him throwdowns. While it still didn't look like a full-intensity batting stint, the fact that he was out in the middle and seemingly untroubled will be good news for the Indian team.

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Ankit_sharma03

[Ankit_sharma03]

Any news on if they have stopped any bowler from India-A incase ishant isnt fit ?

Edited February 12, 2020 by Ankit_sharma03

[Malcolm Merlyn]

If Ishant is taken to NZ, it will be another selection shocker.

He hasnt played for weeks. Now he will striaght walk into the test team.

Sent from my HD1901 using Tapatalk

[express bowling]

6 minutes ago, Malcolm Merlyn said:

If Ishant is taken to NZ, it will be another selection shocker.

He hasnt played for weeks. Now he will striaght walk into the test team.

 

 

Agree strongly  !

Edited February 12, 2020 by express bowling

[Ankit_sharma03]

19 minutes ago, Malcolm Merlyn said:

If Ishant is taken to NZ, it will be another selection shocker.

He hasnt played for weeks. Now he will striaght walk into the test team.

Sent from my HD1901 using Tapatalk
 

i think he is already in NZ

[express bowling]

15 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

i think he is already in NZ

 

But has not played any game for a long time.

[zen]

21 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

i think he is already in NZ

But the article says that Ishant will undergo a fitness test in India on 15th .... and if cleared fly to NZ

[Gollum]

Please Ishu get fit, please Hardik wait till IPL

[RajBan]

No need to rush Ishant. Good opportunity to try out Saini.

[vvvslaxman]

They will go with Umesh Yadav. Is it even a question. He averaged 13 in the last year Test matches. He is the only guy who can take the ball away from the righties consistently. You need such bowler in Tests. Let us not go by his past failures.

Edited February 12, 2020 by vvvslaxman

[Gollum]

Umesh without SG, low bounce, abrasive conditions is a recipe for disaster. 

 

Play Saini as 3rd quick. 

[vvvslaxman]

1 minute ago, Gollum said:

Umesh without SG, low bounce, abrasive conditions is a recipe for disaster. 

 

Play Saini as 3rd quick. 

We cannot use that logic to discard him. Umesh did start his career well in Australia. Saini is an unproven guy. We cannot have that unadkat scenario again. Besides Saini hardly moves the ball. He just hits the hard length which is easy to leave. Also bowl one rubbish ball every over. Besides Umesh was able to nip out Warner cheaply 4 times in Australia.  Shaun Marsh 5 times. Good against lefties.. If i remember right he was the one who reduced Australia to 24/3 with 3 wickets. He lost his way over time. Last i saw he was in fantastic rhythm with new ball.

[express bowling]

2 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

We cannot use that logic to discard him. Umesh did start his career well in Australia. Saini is an unproven guy. We cannot have that unadkat scenario again. Besides Saini hardly moves the ball. He just hits the hard length which is easy to leave. Also bowl one rubbish ball every over. Besides Umesh was able to nip out Warner cheaply 4 times in Australia.  Shaun Marsh 5 times. Good against lefties.. If i remember right he was the one who reduced Australia to 24/3 with 3 wickets. He lost his way over time. Last i saw he was in fantastic rhythm with new ball.

 

1. Saini seams the ball both ways rather  consistenly.  You can't predict red ball movement by watching someone bowl with the white ball. 

 

Not only is the ball different ... but bowlers are afraid of giving width if they try to move the ball too much in LOIs.

 

2. Umesh loses intensity the moment he has to bowl 15+ overs a day. He cannot be a replacement to the " Work horse " Ishant. Nor can he be a backup to the high quality Bumrah.  The only pacer he can be a backup to, in overseas conditions, is Shami.

 

Saini is much more used to bowling 20 to 25 overs a day in Ranji matches and has bowled well in the past while doing so.

Edited February 13, 2020 by express bowling

[ShoonyaSifar]

The desperation shows the faith so called ‘fast bowlers captain’ has in Saini. This captain doofus will not stop before destroying Saini’s career.

[Ankit_sharma03]

7 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

We cannot use that logic to discard him. Umesh did start his career well in Australia. Saini is an unproven guy.

and umesh is a proven failure outside india 

enue	O	M	R	W	5w	10w	Best	Avg	S/R	E/R
Home	731.5	129	2356	96	2	1	6/88	24.54	45.74	3.22
Away	466.4	71	1941	46	1	0	5/93	42.20	60.87	4.16
Overall	1198.3	200	4297	142	3	1	6/88	30.26	50.64	3.59

 

 

He is a diff bowler when he doesnt have SG in hand

7 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

 Also bowl one rubbish ball every over.

and umesh doesnt....no one does it more consistently then umesh 

7 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

 Last i saw he was in fantastic rhythm with new ball.

Last u saw him with SG and he was always good with SG even under dhoni

[New guy]

Weren't we going with 4 pacers in overseas tests?

[bhakum20]

both umesh and saini should play tomorrow in the 4 day game. That would solve the dilemma 

[vvvslaxman]

2 minutes ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

and umesh is a proven failure outside india 

enue	O	M	R	W	5w	10w	Best	Avg	S/R	E/R
Home	731.5	129	2356	96	2	1	6/88	24.54	45.74	3.22
Away	466.4	71	1941	46	1	0	5/93	42.20	60.87	4.16
Overall	1198.3	200	4297	142	3	1	6/88	30.26	50.64	3.59

 

 

He is a diff bowler when he doesnt have SG in hand

and umesh doesnt....no one does it more consistently then umesh 

Last u saw him with SG and he was always good with SG even under dhoni

One key difference is Umesh Yadav was not that good even at home before last year. That 10 wicket haul if you look at the wickets most of them are lower order. One new ball wicket was he bowled down the leg side. 

 

One of the major and a significant difference i noticed ( this i pointed out in the match thread as well) is Umesh is able to consistently move the new ball on a perfect length away from the right handers. He never did that with any sort of control or accuracy prior to that home or away.  Nothing to do with SG ball. SG ball gives help to seamers only when it is scruffed up. All Indians are moving more than they used to before. Even Bumrah has found this away going delivery. May be the coach or may be they share tips with each others.  Umesh is definitely not the Umesh we used to see before. He bowled so many unplayable deliveries in recent times ended up with best year in his career averaging 13.  There is no way they will sit him out because of his past record.  Ashwin will be biggest casualty if they use that yardstick as he was outbowled by Lyon, Moeen Ali overseas.  

 

Another key aspect is Umesh has superior fitness. He can bowl at same pace the entire match without dropping much of pace. He did that a few times in india.  I am not sure about Saini. Navdeep saini's first class record is not exactly earth shattering. 4 fifers and 4 four wicket haulfsin 45 matches. Sandeep warrier 11 fifers in 57 matches 8  four wickets haul. He also bowls a good test match length. Navdeep has to estbalish himself as a LOI bowler first. 

 

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

52 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

One key difference is Umesh Yadav was not that good even at home before last year. That 10 wicket haul if you look at the wickets most of them are lower order. One new ball wicket was he bowled down the leg side. 

Umesh was always good at home ....he has gotten better with time. If u find the ahmd test of india - england 2012 where india won watch his bowling it was great unfortunately he got injured after that

Quote

One of the major and a significant difference i noticed ( this i pointed out in the match thread as well) is Umesh is able to consistently move the new ball on a perfect length away from the right handers. He never did that with any sort of control or accuracy prior to that home or away.  Nothing to do with SG ball. SG ball gives help to seamers only when it is scruffed up. All Indians are moving more than they used to before.

1st its all about how comfortable ur with ball im hand. Duke n kookabura swing more but many ppl dont feel same comfort n control . Like anderson doesnt feel same comfort with kookabura coz how the ball cuts in air and its a lil light in weight so he has to use more of strength as compare to duke and the movement also is different .

 

Similalry umesh cant handle ball when it swings more specially new ball like was the problem with many pakistan bowlers , check any game where it has grass even in India and ull see umesh loosing control even on that damp pitch where binny took 6 fer umesh had no control.

Umesh has been bowling with. SG from start so he feels more comfortable. Even someone like akram has said one air he use to hate white ball in his intial career as it use to swing more n was diff to control. 

 

Those stats show that as he has played almost equal games home n away , when ever he went out of india he looked diff bowler and it happend time n again.

 

 

Akthar explains how diff in ball changes impact of bowler

 

Also wind, weather plays a huge role and is a huge diff 

 

Quote

Even Bumrah has found this away going delivery. May be the coach or may be they share tips with each others.  Umesh is definitely not the Umesh we used to see before. He bowled so many unplayable deliveries in recent times ended up with best year in his career averaging 13.  There is no way they will sit him out because of his past record.  Ashwin will be biggest casualty if they use that yardstick as he was outbowled by Lyon, Moeen Ali overseas.  

Bumrah is a once in generation bowler and umesh and underachiever. 

What makes u think umesh is not same ...home series ?? As i said umesh was always good at home now with shami at other end and maturity he has become lethal. 

 

Ashwin competes with jaddu who himself hasnt been that great overseas. Also spinners overseas are support bowlers its pacer who plays main role. 

Quote

Another key aspect is Umesh has superior fitness. He can bowl at same pace the entire match without dropping much of pace. He did that a few times in india.  I am not sure about Saini. Navdeep saini's first class record is not exactly earth shattering. 4 fifers and 4 four wicket haulfsin 45 matches. Sandeep warrier 11 fifers in 57 matches 8  four wickets haul. He also bowls a good test match length. Navdeep has to estbalish himself as a LOI bowler first. 

 

1st class record doesnt matter any more as ur in 15 now and  it happens on diff pitches with diff ball. Lets take first class srsly to an extent coz if u see current season harshal patel n unadkat has almost 100 wkts among themselves. So diff kind of bowler tend to do better in FC . Even if u see england domestic trundler wud be ruling. If selection just happend on basis of number any one wud have become selector by login in on cricinfo 

 

Acc to me siraj is a better bowler then saini indian conditions and saini better in places like SA, aus, Nz. 

 

Its simple when ur selected if u have the skills play him he might pass or fail but umesh has already proven to be a failure. LOI cricket is another xamples for umesh as its played witj kookabura and umesh has been **** in it despite having all tools 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Ankit_sharma03

[Ajju]

Pandya shown signs and he ll come to

play Ipl and again ll injure

same story