ENG vs IND 2021: Ishant Sharma is Virat Kohli’s go-to-man – Steve Harmison

Former England fast bowler Steve Harmison feels experienced pacer Ishant Sharma is Virat Kohli’s go-to-man. Ishant has all the experience under his belt and he is one of the most improved fast bowlers in the world. The lanky fast bowler scalped five wickets in the Lord’s Test match and played a key role in the team’s win of 151 runs.

In fact, Ishant had missed the first Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham as he had a niggle. As Shardul Thakur was ruled out of the second Test due to hamstring injury, Ishant made a comeback into the final XI of the team.

Meanwhile, Ishant can get the ball to nip back into the right-handers and he can also move the ball away from the left-handers. The fast bowler has a good experience of playing County cricket and knows how to get the best out of himself in the English conditions.

Ishant dismissed Jos Buttler in the first innings and then got rid of Moeen Ali and Sam Curran on consecutive balls. The veteran fast bowler also got the wicket of Jonny Bairstow at the stroke of tea on the final day of the Test match, which was a crucial wicket for the visitors.

“You’ve got a tall bowler in Ishant who likes to get the ball going in naturally and because he has such a nice seam position, he can at times roll his fingers a little bit and get the ball nip away. So that way he’s very very dangerous as you can be doubtful about where your off stump is. That’s why he is Virat’s go-to man as he can give him a lot of overs,” Harmison told ESPNCricinfo.

The former lanky fast bowler from England feels Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami complement each other as one gets the ball to move in whereas the other gets the ball to move away from the right-handers respectively.

“With that, you’ve got somebody like Ishant who is 6 foot or 4 and Shami who is about 5 foot 10. One is bringing the ball back in, the other is taking it away. They complement each other a lot,” he added.

India has a potent pace battery and all the four fast bowlers will look to continue the good show.