Watch Top 5 worst bowling performances of Ishant Sharma

#51/63 (8) - Mohali, 2013

How can one forget that 30-run 48th over that surrendered the match to Australia last year. James Faulkner simply murdered the short-of-the-good-length deliveries that sat up nicely for the Australian all-rounder. India had 44 runs in the bag to defend in the last 3 overs and Ishant’s nightmarish over spoiled everything.

The pacer after seeing a full ball get slapped over extra-cover went back to bowling a short length and the rest is history. With no variation, he kept on bowling the juicy shot pitched balls and James Faulkner was ready for them from the word go. He blasted 4 sixes off the over sending the crowd into complete silence. Australia won the match from from a highly impossible situation, snatching victory from the hands of India.

#40/67 (7) - Kolkata, 2009



Ishant was welcomed to the bowling crease with a string of boundaries – 20 runs in his first over of the match against Sri Lanka. Upul Tharanga was going all guns blazing and the seamer was completely lost in the process. Only the second ball of his over failed to reach the boundary, courtesy the fielder at extra-cover.
And that usual dropped catch happened here too. Nothing changed his fortunes as he was punished mercilessly every time he came on to bowl in the match. Even if we take away that ultra expensive 20-run over, his figures still read a poor 6-0-47-0. A forgettable night for Ishant for sure. In the end, Sri Lanka made 315/6 in 50 overs as Ashish Nehra too conceded 2/68 in his 9 overs.
India, however, won the match with Gautam Gambhir (150) and Virat Kohli (107) scoring centuries

#30/71 Mohali, 2010

One might mistake this to be a One Day International spell, but this is actually his figures against Australia in a Test match in Mohali in 2010. Sharing the new ball, he was bowling well and his bowling figures once read 5-1-15-0 – 3 no-balls included.

From then on, he started leaked runs at will. His next over, the 13th of the Australian innings costed India 16 runs with 3 no-balls and 2 boundaries. To be honest, he even had his bunny Ricky Ponting caught behind on one of those overstepped deliveries. His struggles continued even against the No.11 Ben Hilfenhaus when the Australian fast bowler managed to hit two boundaries off the hapless Delhi pacer. He finished with an economy rate of 6.08.

In the end, the bowler turned hero with three wickets in the second innings and a 81-run 9th wicket stand in the final innings, contributing to a famous Indian win

#20/128 - Lord's, 2011


A bowler can do very little when Kevin Pietersen is striking the ball well and Ishant only resembled a poor traveller in a horror outing against England at the ‘Home of Cricket’ in 2011. As always he produced two outside edges that evaded the slip cordon and from then on, it was one-way traffic. The medium pacer had no answers to the prolific right-hander’s flamboyance. Pietersen finished on an unbeaten 202 including 75 from 101 deliveries by the unimpressive Delhi-lad.
He never looked like taking a wicket, but a completely new bowler turned up in the second innings to help himself to 4/59.

#1 0/164 - Wellington, 2014


Before going to the disastrous spell in the second innings of the Test against New Zealand, let me remind you that in the first innings he picked up 6/51! That is true. If he doesn’t settle down into a good frame of mind, he can look as bad as a cricket ball without shine.

The pitch started to assist strokeplay, but it is not like one cannot pick up wickets at all. The lanky seamer was even promoted to open the bowling after his first innings exploits, but it did no good to his performance. He bowled with controlled line alright, something more than that was needed to test the batsmen on an unsupportive strip. The ‘unlucky’ Ishant even managed to buy some edges here and there, but not a single wicket to show for his efforts.

The Kiwi innings began on the evening session of day 2 and ended, declared to be exact, just before lunch on day 5. Brendon McCullum benefitted the most from the unforgivable spell as he became the first ever New Zealander to score a triple century in Tests.