Pacer Ishant Sharma begins full tilt bowling at National Cricket Academy

Ishant Sharma

Ace Indian speedster Ishant Sharma bowled full tilt at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Sharma eyes a comeback in the Test squad for the upcoming tour of Australia, commencing from December 17.

Ishant Sharma got injured during the recently-concluded edition of Indian Premier League. He picked a “left internal oblique muscle tear” after playing just one game for Delhi Capitals against Sunrisers Hyderabad. This injury ended his premature campaign in IPL 2020.

In a recent video posted by the Twitter handle of ESPNcricinfo, Ishant did his extensive rehabilitation work under the watchful eyes of Director Rahul Dravid and the head physio Ashish Kaushik. The 32-year-old was seen bowling from his full run-up in a minute-long clip. Chief selector Sunil Joshi, NCA coaching staff like Paras Mhambrey and Mansur Khan also marked the attendance.

Ishant Sharma bowls at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru as he looks to prove his fitness for India's Test series against Australia. pic.twitter.com/jfwGCY3ag2
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) November 18, 2020

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly looked hopeful in a recent interview to get Ishant Sharma fit before the first Test in Adelaide.

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“Yes, we are expecting Ishant to be back for the Test matches. He has already started bowling from shorter run-ups and short spells. He has bowled at NCA. But as there is a BCCI protocol for fast bowlers, Ishant will be playing the two first-class games in Australia,” Ganguly told PTI.

Wriddhiman Saha back at India nets

Another delightful news came in for the Indian fans as veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha was also back at the nets. Just like Ishant, Saha is also recovering from an injury that he picked in IPL 2020. He had pulled both his hamstrings during Sunrisers Hyderabad’s IPL campaign in UAE, where he scored two back-to-back match-winning half-centuries.

Look who is batting in the nets today. Hello @Wriddhipops! ? #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/GEzLKcSdVF
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 18, 2020

The 36-year-old missed the eliminator as well as the second qualifier of the Indian Premier League due to the injury. On Wednesday, Saha faced throwdowns in the nets for a considerable period. However, he didn’t keep the wickets to avoid aggravating his hamstring pull.

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