New Delhi: With Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer plying their trade in the cash-rich Indian Premier League, Sussex is relying heavily on India recruit Ishant Sharma as they began their Championship campaign. And the India speedster did not disappoint as he picked up five wickets on his debut against Warwickshire. Rain affected his pre-season training, but Ishant showed how years of bowling at the international level has made him a wily customer.
Sussex took to Twitter to post a video of his bowling which read: “Five wickets for @ImIshant on his @CountyChamp debut! 💫 Highlights from day four of our season opener vs. Warwickshire are available now. #gosbts”
Ishant isn’t the only one who is playing county cricket from India at present as Test teammate Cheteshwar Pujara is also plying his trade for Yorkshire. Speaking to CricketNext about his plans, Pujara had said: “The county stint with Yorkshire should help me prepare for the challenges that lie ahead of me when India tours England. The challenges that shall be thrown at us — by James Anderson and boys — is not something we aren’t aware of. This stint in England shall help me prepare for that. I am really looking forward to it.
“Playing county cricket means you prepare on wickets where every ball could be the last you face in an innings. The wickets are really challenging and I love challenges. County cricket has improved me as a player and I just want to score as many runs as possible for Yorkshire and prepare for the Test series against England and the road ahead.”
Apart from Ishant and Pujara, even skipper Virat Kohli is set to play for Surrey as he prepares for the Test series against England. Surrey are listed to play three four day games in June against the likes of Hampshire, Somerset and Yorkshire, all of which Kohli is expected to play.
"Virat Kohli will be playing for the top English County side Surrey in the month of June. The BCCI has allowed him to fully focus on the England Test series along with Cheteshwar Pujara (Yorkshire), Ravichandran Ashwin (Warwickshire) and Ishant Sharma (Sussex). Virat will miss the Test match against Afghanistan in Bangalore from June 14-18," COA chief Vinod Rai had said.
"The decision has been taken in consultation with the players as we felt after the South Africa series, our Test team needs more time to acclimatise before the England Test series. The BCCI were in talks with the various counties as we wanted our main players to get county exposure."
The Indian captain has previously found batting in English conditions quite tough. He has played five Test matches with a total return of 134 runs at rather dismal average of 13.40.
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