Ishant = Srinath

Venkatesh Prasad had compared Ishant Sharma to Javagal Srinath when the latter had started off at the International arena. While I might disagree in terms of the bowling action, I do see more than one similarity in their style.

1) Both started with their stock delivery being the Inswinger.
2) Both have been deceptively quick.
3) Both have similar build.

But the one that I find the most startling and I wish that it does not continue with Ishant is the luck factor. In my view, I see Srinath as one of unluckiest bowlers in International cricket. Atleast from the time I have been following the sport. The number of catches dropped and LBW decisions not given must have easily robbed Srinath a good 50 wickets each in Test and ODI cricket. He suffered from poor support in the outfield as India really did not possess great fielders except for Jadeja and Azhar during the major part of Srinath's career. And the umpiring standards were below average in those times aswell.

I raise this point after seeing Ishant start out in an extremely promising fashion. He deserved a good 3 or 4 wickets in the 2nd Innings at Perth and the 1st innings at Adelaide but was denied the same by some consistent umpiring which favoured the batsmen of both the teams. And with Clarke being dropped off his bowling in his first T-20 over due to a mis-understanding between Bhajji and Irfan denied Ishant another wicket.

I do hope he gets luckier with time and hopefully goes on to take more wickets on a regular basis.