Ishant Sharma in Test cricket over the years – data analysis

The tall right-arm fast bowler from India, one of the most experienced in the whole Indian cricket team and serving the country for more than a decade with his splendid work with the ball, the one and only Ishant Sharma is known as the kind of bowler who tends to let the ball go naturally as he has one of those admirable seam positions and his abilities to control the ball. From getting sidelined from the team a few years back until his return and also struggling from several injuries, he is always one of the prominent pace attackers for India for a long time – appearing for more than 100 Test matches until his debut in 2007. In this article, we will analyse a few bowling performance indicators of Sharma since his inception into the Test cricket for India.

From crossing the 150 wicket mark in just 53 Tests to become the 11^th Indian bowler to do so, Sharma has bowled many eye-catching spells of wonderful pace bowling over the years. Playing 104 matches (at the time of writing) while taking 311 wickets and also maintaining an economy of 3.16 over the years is pretty admirable.

Let us look at the overall stats for Ishant Sharma in Test cricket.

Now, let us look at his performance by country over the years. We will be basically looking and comparing the no. of matches he played against a particular country, overs bowled, wickets taken, economy rate along with the strike rate. The stats below give us a clear idea that Sharma has played most of his Test matches in India while bowling the highest overs and also acquiring the highest number of wickets (104) playing in Indian conditions. Also, considering the economy and strike rate, it gives us a clear idea of how good he is as a bowler in home conditions.

Also from the data obtained for his home vs away overall performance stats, the story reveals more. It is seen that Sharma has more five-wicket hauls playing away matches compared to home matches. He has bowled in 100 more away Test innings than at home. In away conditions, he has a better average including more fivers and 10 wicket hauls. It is also due to the higher number of away Test matches that he has appeared in for India.

Along the way, Sharma has also racked up a few records. He has the most wickets outside Asia among Indians, behind only Anil Kumble. Ishant has 20 away wins which is joint second-highest along with Sachin Tendulkar. Ishant has also racked up some good numbers in these away wins, he averages 23.50 and strikes once every 46 deliveries.

Now to consider the annual Test stats of Ishant Sharma since his debut, we can see that he had his best time bowling during the period of 2011-12. While maintaining a decent average over the years, his hunt for wickets is pretty consistent if we look at the graph below. Due to several injuries, he lost his form during the period 2017-20 – he is currently playing and performing at his peak again. It is also to be mentioned that he has a bowling average which is very admirable compared to a few top world-class bowlers of this current time – such as Kagiso Rabada, James Anderson, Trent Boult, Stuart Broad and Josh Hazlewood.

Conclusion

From debuting in the year 2007 to becoming the second Indian pacer to play 100 Test matches it has been quite a journey for the tall Indian bowler. From experiencing painful injuries to bowling long spells in Test cricket over the years, he is a consistent player and that is one of the reasons for surviving as a pacer for so many years now. Along with Mohammed Shami and Bumrah, Ishant Sharma forms a potent pace attack that has been doing exceedingly well around the world over the last two years.