Ishant Sharma becomes third Indian pacer to take 300 Test wickets
Chennai, Feb 8: Veteran fast bowler Ishant Sharma on Monday became the sixth Indian and third pacer from the country to take 300 wickets in Test cricket, joining legendary former India captains Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble after a "roller-coaster" ride.
Ishant reached the landmark when he trapped Dan Lawrence with a delivery that swung back sharply before hitting his pads in England's second innings on the fourth day of the opening Test here.
Besides Kumble (619) and Kapil (434), Ravichandran Ashwin (377 before this game), Harbhajan Singh (417), and Zaheer Khan (311) are the other bowlers from the country who have reached the landmark.
The 32-year-old Ishant reached the milestone in 98 matches, more than the other Indian bowlers in the club.
"Quite a roller-coaster life so far. A lot of experiences, I've learned a lot about how to bowl in the subcontinent, and what lengths to bowl when we go abroad," Ishant said at the end of the day's play.
"Feeling a bit sore, just played four-over T20 games in domestic, and came back and straightaway bowled 35 overs."
India were set a world record target of 420 to win the opening Test here and Ishant said his team is positive about it, especially after their incredible showings in Australia recently.
"If we get a good start tomorrow, I'm sure we can chase this down. We have a fearless batting line-up, and we're very positive about this.
"First two days it felt like we were playing on the road, but on the fourth day it started turning a bit and we caught a bit of a break.
"Even on the first two days I thought we bowled well even though we weren't getting much help," Ishant added.
The BCCI and ICC joined some cricketers in congratulating the seasoned pacer who began his Test career way back in 2007.
"Congratulations @ImIshant. He becomes the third Indian fast bowler to take 300 Test wickets. He traps Lawrence in the front as England lose their third wicket," the BCCI tweeted soon after he accomplished the feat.
The ICC also lauded the seasoned fast bowler's achievement, coming after more than 13 years of toil.
"Ishant Sharma becomes the third India pacer after Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan to reach the 300-wicket mark in Tests. What an achievement!" the game's global governing body tweeted.
He has 11 five-wicket hauls and picked up 10 wickets in a match once. The lanky pacer's spell to former Australian captain Ricky Ponting during his teenage years is still discussed in Indian cricketing circles.
Ashwin was the fastest to get there, taking only 54 matches, followed by Kumble (66), Harbhajan (72), Kapil (83) and Zaheer (89).
Ishant, who made his Test debut against Bangladesh, missed the four-match Test series against Australia due to a side strain and came back for the challenge against England.
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Rajasthan: Probe launched after 6 men die in Alwar villages in 4 days
Jaipur, Apr 30 (PTI): The death of six people due to unconfirmed reasons in two villages located around Siliserh Lake in Alwar district in the last four days has prompted the district administration to initiate a probe.
Senior Rajasthan Congress leader and leader of opposition in the state assembly Tikaram Jully, however, alleged that the deaths occurred due to spurious liquor.
The administration, on its part, has ruled out the possibility of spurious liquor being a cause of the deaths.
Alwar Collector Artika Shukla confirmed on Wednesday that six men have died, but she said three of the deaths had no connection with liquor.
"Family members of one of the deceased men informed our team that he fell sick after pesticide spray on the farm, while another man who died was suffering from high BP. The family of the third man said that he was an asthma patient," said Shukla, who had sent a team of officials from the district administration and police to the villages.
The collector said that the exact cause cannot be ascertained since no postmortem was conducted.
The remaining three men who died were liquor addicts, but they were not taken to hospital by the family members after they fell sick, she informed.
"CMHO (chief medical and health officer) said that liver failure or high BP could be a probable cause of death," she said.
An investigation into the matter is underway. The district authorities, including the police, are probing the matter, including illicit liquor.
"According to the initial probe, the reasons for deaths are different. There is no confirmation of death due to liquor so far," Sanjeev Nain, Alwar SP, said.
Villagers said that Suresh Balmiki (45) died on Saturday, Ramkishore (47) and Ramkumar (39) died on Sunday, while Lalaram (60), Bharat (40) and Omi (65) died on Monday.
Balkishan, father of deceased Ramkumar, said that his son had come home after consuming a bottle of country-made liquor.
"After some time, his health deteriorated, and he died in the hospital," he told reporters in Alwar.
Targeting the state government over the issue, Jully claimed that the illicit liquor business flourished under the BJP rule.
"The government has turned a blind eye to this issue. The government is trying to hide the truth and death figures in Alwar," he alleged.
