India tour of Australia: Ishant Sharma starts bowling at NCA

Bengaluru, November 19: Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma is working his way back to regaining full fitness and was seen bowling at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

India's senior-most fast bowler is racing against time to prove his fitness ahead of the first of the four-match Test series against Australia, which begins in Adelaide on December 17.

The 32-year-old was ruled out of the Indian Premier League 2020 after playing just one game for Delhi Capitals against Sunrisers Hyderabad before a left internal oblique muscle tear ended his campaign prematurely.

After recovering, Ishant has been at the NCA doing his extensive rehabilitation work under the watchful eyes of Director Rahul Dravid and head physio Ashish Kaushik.

The ESPNCricinfo website tweeted a minute-long clip of Ishant bowling from his full run-up watched by Dravid and chief selector Sunil Joshi.

He was mainly bowling single stump with NCA coaching staff like Paras Mhambrey and Mansur Khan also in attendance.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly in a recent interview to PTI news agency had said that they are expecting Ishant to get fit before the pink-ball day-night Test in Adelaide.

"Yes, we're expecting Ishant to be back for the Test matches. He has already started bowling from shorter run-ups and short spells. He has bowled at NCA.

"But as there's a BCCI protocol for fast bowlers, Ishant will be playing the two first-class games in Australia," Ganguly had said.

Ishant has taken 297 wickets from 97 matches and if he manages to play three more games in Australia, the Delhi fast bowler will join Kapil Dev as the second Indian fast bowler to play 100 Tests.

Meanwhile, there are reports from the Indian camp currently in Australia that in the absence of Ishant, premier strike bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami will be rotated during the ODI and T20 series to keep them for the Test matches.

India begin their tour of Australia with three ODIs followed by as many T20 Internationals -- to be played between November 27 to December 8 in Sydney and Canberra.

According to BCCI sources, Bumrah and Shami will play the ODIs where they can bowl their 10 over quota and then switch to Test match mode by playing the warm-up games in case Ishant is not available for the first Test.