Ishant Sharma’s experience will make the difference in Australia for the Indian national cricket team, believes Jason Gillespie. Former Australian fast bowler opined that Australia would have an edge and that is a lot due to the absence of both Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Gillespie on the absence of Ishant Sharma in Australia
Jason Gillespie said in an interview recently, “I am predicting Australia to edge out India in this series.” He further explained, “I think home advantage is going to be a factor. Besides, it will be a blow with both Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar injured. Bumrah and Shami have been bowling well for India. But, India will miss Ishant for his experience in Australian conditions.”
Ishant Sharma has not been included d in India’s Test squad to Australia as he is recovering from an injury that ruled him out of IPL13. But the 32-year-old Ishant Sharma has been part of four Australia tours since 2008 and made him mark. In fact, he had huge contributions in India’s first Test series win in Australia in 2018-19 when he scalped 11 wickets in three Tests at an average of 24.
Gillespie, recalling the same said, “He has been bowling beautifully in the last few years. You only have to look at his results to show why he has performed so well,” said Gillespie. “He also brings a subtle difference to the bowling attack. It’s not often that a right-arm seam bowler comes wide of the crease and bowls inswingers to right-hand batsmen and across left-handers. It’s not a common angle for batsmen to face. You normally have right-arm bowlers looking to get close to the stumps and look to swing it away from the right-handers and bowl it in to left-hander.”
Challenger for Indian bowlers
Gillespie further shared his thoughts on the Australian seam bowling unit as well and went on to rate the trio highly. “When I look at the Australian bowling line up: Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood – it is the best seam attack Australia has ever produced in the history of Test cricket. They make a wonderful combination. Obviously, with Nathan Lyon, our best off-spinner, it is a pretty formidable lineup and it’s going to be a real challenge for India in Australian conditions.”
However, Gillespie knows what Australians are planning to do and according to him the first challenge of Indian bowlers would be to quickly adapt to the conditions. “For the Indian seam attack, the real challenge is how quickly they can adapt to Australian conditions and get their length on the delivery right. Sometimes, when teams come from the sub-continent, it takes a little while to find the correct length. The Australians do it year in, year out.”
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