Ishant finds way,WI lose plot

Pacemans three-wicket burst leaves hosts struggling,puts India ahead in the second Test.

Here at the Kensington Oval,in the summer of 1995,a young Glenn McGrath took his first steps towards greatness. The series was billed as a battle for the unofficial Test crown,and McGrath was 24 with just nine Tests in his kitty. But with the incumbent leader of the attack,Craig McDermott returning home injured before the start of the first Test,McGrath was abruptly thrust into the premier pacers role. And he took the opportunity with both hands. With eight wickets and a man-of-the-match award McGrath bowled Australia to a 10-wicket victory within three days. The rest,as the cliché goes,is history.

Ishant Sharma is three years younger than what McGrath was 16 years ago,but has played 23 more Tests and had 71 more wickets than the Aussie did before the second Test began. But the Australian had the slightly more experienced Paul Reiffel for assistance at the other end. The two pacers supporting Ishant here have together played four Tests between them. And the Delhi lad has already experienced a ride full of highs and lows in his young career.

But unlike McGrath,Ishant is not learning to walk,but is beginning to run. If the 22-year-old had begun to take his first steps towards rediscovering the potential at Sabina Park; on the second morning at the Kensington Oval he seemed to be back to his best,snaring two wickets in an over to leave the West Indies struggling with half their side back in the hut.

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Despite not getting his radar right on a consistent basis,Ishant had played as crucial a role as his new-ball partner Praveen Kumar,who won the majority of the plaudits,in Indias victory at Jamaica. He had provided early wickets in both innings,and finished with six wickets.

In the midst of a number of wild deliveries down the leg-side,Ishant bowled a number of testing ones and always seemed to have an upper-hand against the West Indian batsmen.

Ravi Rampaul & Co had shown the way by utilising the favourable conditions for fast bowlers on this wicket to the fullest on Day One. Unlike at Sabina Park,Ishant found his line and length straight away during his four-over burst on the first evening. He didnt allow the hosts openers to settle,making them play at least four deliveries in each over,and also getting them to fend off rising deliveries from back of a length.

He set up Adrian Barath by first keeping him stranded on the back-foot before furthering his length by a couple of inches-bringing back memories of McGrath. The ball pitched slightly outside Baraths off-stump and he obliged with a flashy drive and was caught by Virat Kohli at gully.

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Ishant began in the same vein and with equal incisiveness on Wednesday morning,once play commenced after a delayed start on a rain-affected day. The disconcerting bounce was there,and so was the considerable seam movement and all his bouncers but one were directed perfectly.

The indisposed Zaheer Khan may have South African captain Graeme Smith stamped in as his certified bunny. Over the last two weeks,Ishant has clouded Ramnaresh Sarwans mind with doubts in similar fashion. He got rid of him in both innings at Jamaica. And here he ensured that Sarwan remained uncertain on both front and back foot,beating his bat regularly.

Over the last two years,Ishant seemed to have lost his major weapon,that ominous in-swinger which snaked back into the right-hander and famously had Ricky Ponting in dire straits. But hes found it back in the Caribbean. And just like Ponting,Sarwan had no answer to it,and was trapped lbw. Two balls earlier,Ishant had sent back night-watchman Devendra Bishoo. And by lunch on Day Two,he had taken his series tally to nine wickets.

McDermott never returned to the Australian team after that famous tour to the West Indies,leaving McGrath to remain the bastion of the Australian pace-attack for years to come. Despite his renewed vigour,Ishant will soon relinquish the tag of Indias lead fast bowler,once Zaheer returns. But if he continues in the same vein as he has in the Caribbean,Indias new-ball future certainly looks secure.