| Player: | I Sharma |
Tall, sturdy and well built, this lanky fast bowler from Delhi has taken the cricketing world by storm. He made his debut against Bangladesh but was very raw at that time in early 2007. However it was in the 2007-08 Test series in Australia that he made his presence felt.
Standing at 6'4", his rhythmic, high-arm action allowed him to bowl at around 140 kph and extract uncomfortable bounce along with a late swing in the trajectory of the ball. He took up professional cricket at 14 and by age 18, he had made his Ranji debut.
Steve Waugh calls him the next best thing in Indian cricket and Ricky Ponting agrees as he suffered first hand. His probing spell in the second innings in Perth 2008, when he set up the current Aussie captain, is the ideal story for cricket romantics. He continued to impress in the one-day series, clocking more than 150kph once, and ended as India's highest wicket-taker in the CB series. Capitalizing on his instant stardom, Kolkata Knight Riders purchased him in the playersÂ’ auction to play in the IPL.
He has continued with his performances in Sri Lanka and was the Man of the Series against Australia in the Border Gavaskar trophy. He took 15 wickets and troubled the best in business with Ponting becoming his bunny by the end of the series.