Ishant Sharma in doubt for Australia tour

14 October 2020   Daily Asian Age

Ishant Sharma in doubt for Australia tour
India fast bowler Ishant Sharma is in doubt for the tour of Australia later this year after sustaining an injury during the Indian Premier League.Ishant suffered an abdominal muscle tear while training in the Delhi Capitals camp. He has already been ruled out for the remainder of the IPL 2020 and is now understood to be in doubt for India’s Australia tour towards the end of the year.
Ishant had played just one match in the IPL season before the setback. A statement issued by his team said that the injury happened during training when he felt pain in his rib cage. “Ishant Sharma experienced an acute episode of left rib cage pain while bowling at a team training session on 7 October in Dubai. Subsequent investigations revealed that he sustained a left internal oblique muscle tear. This injury will unfortunately rule him out of the remainder of the IPL 2020,” the release said.
Having picked up 11 wickets from three matches at an average of 23.82 when India claimed a historic Test series win in Australia in 2018-19, Ishant was expected to be picked up for the Test leg of the upcoming tour as well, but his injury is estimated to put him out of action for close to a month.

BCCI are expected to announce the squads once the itinerary is finalised by Cricket Australia.The tall fast bowler has played 97 Test matches for India since making his debut in 2007 and has picked up 297 wickets. His last Test match was in New Zealand earlier this year when he took a five-wicket haul in the first innings.

—ICC