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India vs New Zealand 1st Test: Ishant Sharma surpasses Zaheer Khan in elite list of India fast bowlers
Ishant Sharma dismissed Tom Blundell, Tom Latham and Ross Taylor on Day 2 and he came back on Sunday to dismiss Tim Southee and Trent Boult to claim his 11th five-wicket haul in the longest format.
Ishant Sharma was the pick of the India bowlers as he claimed five wickets on Day 3 of the first Test encounter against New Zealand in Wellington to lead his team’s fightback. The right-arm seamer had dismissed Tom Blundell, Tom Latham and Ross Taylor on Day 2 and he came back on Sunday to dismiss Tim Southee and Trent Boult to claim his 11th five-wicket haul in the longest format. In the process, he also surpassed Zaheer Khan as the India fast bowler with the most number of wickets against SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) nations in Tests. Currently, he has 121 wickets which puts him ahead of Zaheer, Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath.
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Most wickets by an Indian pacer in SA/ENG/NZ/AUS countries:
121 - Ishant Sharma
120 - Zaheer Khan
117 - Kapil Dev
89 - Javagal Srinath
84 - Mohammed Shami
Sharma is also currently tied with Zaheer Khan at the 2nd position in the list of India fast bowlers with most five-wicket hauls in Tests. While Zaheer had taken 92 Tests to reach the mark, Sharma did it in his 97th Test. Only Kapil Dev with 23 five-wicket hauls is higher in the list.
He also surpassed Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Zaheer Khan to become the bowler with 3rd most-5 wicket hauls in away Tests. Sharma had achieved the milestone 9 times in his career now. Only Kapil Dev (12) and Anil Kumble (10) are higher in the lists.
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At stumps, India reached 144 for 4 in their second innings as the top-order found Trent Boult’s (3/27 in 16 overs) high-quality swing bowling too hot to handle.
India now trail New Zealand by 39 runs going into fourth day, which could well be the final day of this game unless Ajinkya Rahane (25 batting, 67 balls) and Hanuma Vihari (15 batting, 70 balls) show the art of survival that was distinctly lacking in some of the other top-order batsmen.
(With agency inputs)
