India vs England: Ishant Sharma to Undergo More Tests on Sore Leg, Says Bowling Coach
Tall fast bowler Pankaj Singh replaced Ishant Sharma in the Indian squad for the third Test match against England in Southampton. Ishant had taken a match-winning seven wickets in the second innings of the last Test match at Lord's.
India's bowling coach Joe Dawes was apprehensive about Ishant Sharma's fitness, saying the pace spearhead will undergo tests in the next few days after missing out on the third Test match against England due to a sore leg.
Tall fast bowler Pankaj Singh replaced Ishant in the Indian squad. (Also read: Pankaj Singh promises to make impact on India debut)
"Ishant has a sore leg. We need to do a few more tests but we have 11 days before for the next Test, so we will watch him carefully," Dawes said after the day's play.
Asked at what juncture the team decided to leave him out, he said, "Pankaj was named in the first 12 on Saturday. Ishant had a bowl on the Sunday morning before toss but he felt sore and then around 10.20 am (about ten minutes before toss), it was decided." (Also read: Dhoni reprimanded by ICC for protesting Jadeja fine)
England reached a comfortable 247 for 2 on an easy pitch on Day 1 of the third Test match at Southampton after Alastair Cook came back to form with 95 runs and Gary Ballance scored an unbeaten 104 runs, his second hundred of the series. (Highlights)
"Maybe it was not the best day for our bowling attack, but Pankaj coming through was a real positive for us. He could have easily got a couple of wickets but things didn't go his way. Bhuvneshwar (Kumar) had an off day. We are working on the consistency of our bowlers," said the coach.
Dawes also informed that the young Indian attack had dinner with West Indies great Michael Holding ahead of the match. "Yes, we had dinner with Michael Holding and the bowlers had a lot of questions for him. It was a good time spent with the royalty of fast bowling," he added.
Cook was able to get away on the day when Ravindra Jadeja dropped him on 15. There have been a lot of changes with the slip cordon for India since the transition set in, and it doesn't look set at the moment. (Also read: Gavaskar unimpressed with Dhoni's slip cordon)
"It is a new cordon and the ball wobbles a bit here in England after going past the bat. They are working hard as a group. Even Mark Waugh and Mark Taylor dropped a few in their time," he signed off.