The Indian Express - India's search for a tearaway fast bowler

Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma

After the Chappell era and India’s disastrous World Cup 2007 campaign, India somehow managed to find the most extreme of rarities – a tall fast bowler. The only thing common then and now for Ishant Sharma was his Goldilocks hair – back in 2008, he was Indian cricket’s greatest discovery as he terrorized the likes of Ponting and company with his pace and bounce as India won a Test match on a ground they would have never expected to – Perth. Ishant remains the only Indian bowler after Srinath to have recorded 150 kmph – it happened on that glorious tour. Since then, his pace (and now his form) has been on a downward spiral although he has touched speeds close to 150 kmph a couple of times in the IPL.

Rudra Pratap Singh

RP Singh

In that same Test match at Perth, another unexpected entity breached the 145 kmph barrier. For the greater part of his career, Rudra Pratap Singh found himself playing understudy to Zaheer Khan or Irfan Pathan but, on this one occasion, RP matched Pathan for swing and Ishant for pace. In the Greg Chappell era, he was seen as someone who would keep the fort gates closed while the likes of VRV and Sreesanth went out to battle but, over the years, he came into his own with some fine performances in helpful conditions. He failed to ride the crest though and soon fell behind in the reckoning.