Ishant Sharma, the fast bowling spearhead of Team India, has attributed his success in the first innings of the opening Test against West Indies to his bowling partner, Jasprit Bumrah.
The lanky pacer was also helped by Roston Chase (48 off 74), Shai Hope (24 off 65) and Shimron Hetmyer (35 off 47) who were all guilty of throwing it away after promising starts.
5️⃣ wickets for Ishant Sharma!
Brilliant bowling from the India seamer 👏 👏 #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/B675oei8BR
— ICC (@ICC) August 23, 2019
“There was rain, and after that the ball became wet, and there was nothing happening [with the ball]. So, we thought we can bowl with a cross seam. There was a bounce. Actually, Bumrah told me that we can try cross-seam since there is nothing happening,” Ishant, who returned with figures of 5 for 43, said.
“The attempt was, if you bowl out the opposition as soon as possible, it is good for your team. We tried that; we were able to do that.”
Meanwhile, Bumrah on Friday became the quickest Indian pacer to scalp 50 Test wickets.
Playing his 11th Test, Bumrah dismissed Darren Bravo in the 30th over of the Windies innings to register his 50th Test wicket. He had Bravo plum in front, and as a result, the left-hander was adjudged leg-before wicket (LBW).
The 25-year-old has reached the milestone faster than Venkatesh Prasad and Mohammed Shami who had taken 13 matches each to 50 Test wickets. Bumrah is also the third joint-fastest Indian bowler along with Narendra Hirwani and Harbhajan Singh to reach the milestone figure.
Fastest Indians to 50 Test wickets:
🔸 R Ashwin ➜ 9 matches
🔸 Anil Kumble ➜ 10 matches
🔸 Narendra Hirwani ➜ 11 matches
🔸 Harbhajan Singh ➜ 11 matches
🔸 JASPRIT BUMRAH ➜ 11 matches 👏#WIvIND pic.twitter.com/fXKIxeJ7LJ— ICC (@ICC) August 24, 2019
