Former South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock has urged Indian team management to be honest with Ishant Sharma and they should tell him the exact reason why he wasn’t picked for the decider at Cape Town.
Notable that Mohammad Siraj missed the third test due to a hamstring injury so Ishant Sharma was likely to get a go but the team management decided to go with Umesh Yadav so his Ishant’s recent form hasn’t been great and his record in South Africa isn’t encouraging either.
Ishant Sharma picked 14 wickets in 8 Tests last year
However, Pollock insisted that India team management needs to tell him about his future. Noteworthy that India already was playing with 4 pace bowlers and still India didn’t prefer him.
“I think the communication needs to be good. The guy needs to be respected for what he has done,” Shaun Pollock spoke to Cricbuzz.
“You need to be honest with him and you need to give him the exact reason. If the reason was ‘we think you would be better suited if there were no left-handers,’ he just has to accept that,” he added.
Ishant picked just 14 wickets in 8 Tests with an average of 32.71 last year. He picked only 5 wickets in 2 Tests against England in Pataudi Trophy last year. He picked just 20 wickets in 7 matches with an average of 40. But Pollock argued that a veteran like him deserves an honest assessment from the team management.
“It’s not easy when you have played that much amount of cricket and have given some really good service. The conditions are good in South Africa and he must be dying for an opportunity, particularly after those two pitches. He must be thinking, ‘Gosh if I could just have a game here, I’m sure I could make an impact,” said Pollock.
“I hope the communication with him has been good because he deserves that and then he has to assess where he is at,” he added further.
India’s next Test assignment will be 2-Test series against Sri Lanka at home in February-March. Then in England, they will have one remaining test of unfinished series which was postponed last year due to a covid outbreak in the India camp. India is currently leading the series by 2-1. The rescheduled match will be played at Edgbaston from July 1.