The new tall order
He is 192 centimetres and growing, accurate, menacing, creative and captivating, and he didn't shy away from chewing Glenn McGrath's during the inaugural IPL this year
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
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He is 192 centimetres and growing, accurate, menacing, creative and captivating, and he didn't shy away from chewing Glenn McGrath's during the inaugural IPL this year. For Ishant Sharma, writes Chloe Saltau in the Sunday Age, this series could well be what Australia's 1995 tour of the West Indies was for McGrath. And a bit more.
Two more Tests will tell whether there is a new world order in cricket, but it is already beyond dispute that India possesses the most exciting young fast bowler in the world. He comes from a working class family in Delhi - and still lives in the modest neighbourhood where he grew up despite his sudden wealth - and a country that has broken the hearts of many a paceman with its flat, spin-friendly wickets.
To top it off, Ishant's got Jason Gillespie all jealous.
In the Indian Express, Sandeep Dwivedi traces trace the making of India’s new pace hope.
Several years ago, the cricketers of Ganga International School in Delhi couldn’t understand their coach Shravan Kumar’s obsession with a recently-drafted, tall, gawky pacer. As the whispering campaign against the erratic bowler with a no-ball problem and a stop-start run-up grew louder, Shravan would often get to hear, “Sir has picked him again!” But despite this small resistance, the coach would have an all-knowing smile as he threw the new ball to his pet without a hint of guilt.
Little did the Ganga International boys know that one day they would be flaunting their proximity to that unwanted member of their team. The beanpole-framed bowler has now made a mark in world cricket, and his early colleagues end up dropping his name to spice up stories about their modest initial cricketing days.
Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo