Perhaps India’s biggest positive from their first Test match at Wellington was the way Ishant Sharma bowled in the first innings. On a surface where other Indian pacers failed to deliver their best, Ishant was in great form and picked up a fifer to make things easy for the team. However, his efforts were not enough to save India from a 10 wicket defeat.
Ahead of the second test match, which is all set to begin from Saturday in Christchurch, Glenn Mcgrath has praised Ishant Sharma for his performance and stated that the seamer has reinvented himself.
“Ishant has a lot of experience, the way he’s comeback in the last couple years, its been impressive. I thought his career might have been finished at international level, but he has reinvented himself and he is bowling well,” the former Australian was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
McGrath even defended India’s ordinary bowling which saw the pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami pick up just a couple of wickets.
“I still have total faith in the Indian (bowling) lineup. They had a few injuries of late. Sharma is coming back and he did get five wickets. Bumrah had a couple of injuries and he is coming back. So, yeah, I think the Indian bowling attack is world-class and there is no doubt about that,” he said.
“I don’t have any issues with the bowling attack, you don’t lose form overnight. It was just one of those things where the toss made a huge difference. (in the first test in New Zealand), but you still got to get and score runs,” Mcgrath added.
The legendary Aussie then defended Shami and Bumrah and highlighted their strengths.
“Shami bowls good pace and is deceptive in the pace he bowls, he can move the ball around and is very experienced, just knows the game so well. Jasprit is unique with the way he goes about it short run-up, powers through the crease, can swing the ball, good control and good pace (in) second third spells. And then on top of that the other quicks and spinner,” he said.