Childhood coach wants Ishant Sharma to surpass Kapil Dev's 434-wicket mark

Ishant’s childhood coach Shravan Kumar, 68, now wants his ward to aim for another 135 wickets to emerge as India’s highest Test wicket-taking pacer. “I’m expecting him to surpass the record of 434 Test wickets. I know it’s a difficult task but the good thing is that fitness is not a worry for Ishant.

On Monday, Ishant Sharma became only the third Indian pacer, after the legendary Kapil Dev (434) and Zaheer Khan (311), to enter the 300 Test-wicket club.
Ishant, 32, reached the landmark when he dismissed England’s Dan Lawrence LBW in the second innings on Day Four of the Chennai Test. In the process, he became only the sixth Indian bowler to take 300 wickets, joining the likes of former leg-spinner Anil Kumble (619) and off-spinners Harbhajan Singh (417) and Ravichandran Ashwin (386).

Ishant’s childhood coach Shravan Kumar, 68, now wants his ward to aim for another 135 wickets to emerge as India’s highest Test wicket-taking pacer. “I’m expecting him to surpass the record of 434 Test wickets. I know it’s a difficult task but the good thing is that fitness is not a worry for Ishant. Age is also on his side. He can easily play for another four-five years, so 135 more wickets is definitely a possibility,” Shravan told mid-day from Delhi on Monday. 

Shravan Kumar

“It’s a proud moment to see Ishant reaching 300 wickets in Tests. For a pacer, it’s a commendable achievement. Besides, he’s also playing his 98th Test which means he’ll reach that magic figure of 100 Tests soon. That will be a massive accomplishment too,” added Shravan, 68, who saw Ishant for the first time as a teenager at the Ganga International School’s nets in North Delhi. “He impressed me immediately and I knew he was India material but I didn’t expect him to play for India so soon [Ishant made his Test debut under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy against Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2007 at the age of 18]. 

“Initially there were some issues with his run up, so we worked on that, and he has not looked back since,” added Shravan, who had a congratulatory message and another immediate target for his champion speedster. “Ishant, all the best for your next target—to go past Zaheer’s 311 wickets,” he said.

Ishant has 115 wickets in 80 ODIs and eight scalps from 14 T20Is.

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