All batsmen respect Ishant: De Villiers

Ishant may not be picking up many wickets but that's only because batsmen are wary of slogging him, believes former SA pacer Fanie de Villiers

All batsmen respect Ishant: De Villiers

Ishant may not be picking up many wickets but that's only because batsmen are wary of slogging him, believes former SA pacer Fanie de Villiers

A poor batting display from Kolkata Knight Riders is not news anymore. It's a given in the second edition of the Indian Premier League. What has actually surprised many is that on the rare occasion that Brendon McCullum and Co have been able to put up a decent score on the board, their bowlers haven't been able to defend it.

Ishant Sharma

It is all the more surprising since it is an attack lead by India's most promising fast bowler, Ishant Sharma.

The lanky pace bowler comes in with a huge reputation and given the bowler-friendly conditions, he was expected to be among the most dangerous opponents in the fray with the new ball. For KKR, though the initial breakthroughs haven't really come.

In six of the nine matches he has played, Sharma hasn't been able to strike with the new ball.

He went wicketless in the first-leg game against Deccan Chargers, his first wicket against Mumbai Indians in both the legs came in 18.5 overs of the innings. Against Royal Challengers he got his first scalp in 12.4 overs while against Delhi Daredevils he went wicketless in the first game and in the return fixture got his first wicket in the ninth over.

Sharma has been upstaged by RP Singh (15 wickets), Ashish Nehra (14 wickets), Yusuf Abdulla (14 wickets), L Balaji (12 wickets) and Shadab Jakati (11 wickets). While he has a tally of 11 wickets from nine matches, the scalps haven't counted for much from the team's perspective.

Sharma's lack of impact is some cause of concern for the Indian fans ahead of the ICC World T20 championship next month.

Former South Africa pace ace Fanie de Villiers, however, assured that there is not much wrong with the Indian spearhead. He said Sharma did not have the results to show because everyone was playing safe against him.

"Is his lack of success surprising or is it respect by the opponents?" asked de Villiers.

"Yusuf Abdulla has had a lot of success but the difference is that nobody knows who Abdulla is. He doesn't play for SA much so everybody is going after him and trying to hit him out of the park."

Homework done
"Are they going to try that with Ishant? They are trying to work him out for singles. There is a lot of respect for him. They have talked about him before hand and hence are playing normal against him," said Centurion-based De Villiers.

"It doesn't mean much that he's not taken a lot of wickets. If he's your main bowler, he will be bowling in the most difficult situations against the most difficult batsmen. He is the captain's choice for the crunch moment," said De Villiers.

"Class cannot be replaced. Class can be seen in Test cricket. There is a little bit of class in one-day cricket and you don't need class in T20. You need luck. He's a class player and is going to be around for a long time."

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