http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 credits Zaheer Khan for improved bowling: IPL-4 News
Star Indian pacer, who is currently representing Deccan Chargers (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), credited his fellow pacer Zaheer Khan for his recent improvement in performance. The tall seamer demolished the Kochi Tuskers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kerala-c803 (KTK) with a superb
five-wicket haul in the 32nd match of the lucrative league, guiding his team to a comprehensive 55-runs victory.
Sharma, who earned the player-of-the-match award, stated, “I need to say thanks to Zaheer Khan because he told me to keep working hard on my fitness. Working with him is really tremendous for me.”
On being asked of what inspired him to bowl like this, Sharma said, “It’s not about inspiration, when we were sitting in the dressing room we thought 130 is a good total. When RP’s first ball hit the gloves (of Sunny Sohal), we thought we won’t mind bowling
first on this track.”
Skipper of the DC, Kumar Sangakkara was also pleased with the performance of his speedsters, Sharma and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn. Both bowlers did a terrific job in the first few overs, putting the opposition on back foot.
The former Sri Lankan captain also praised the team’s coach Darren Lehman for keeping the spirits in the dressing room high. According to Sangakkara, the team has been playing good cricket due to their coach.
The win against KTK has put Sangakkara and his men at number six in the pool. The team was struggling for momentum prior to this match and didn’t get off to an ideal start in this match either.
KTK’s captain Mahela Jayawardene had elected to field first after winning the toss, as the pitch appeared to have some assistance for fast bowlers. His bowlers didn’t disappoint, as Deccan lost three wickets for just 20 runs in 5.2 overs.
However, the turning point of the match was a lucky escape for Sangakkara. The veteran batsman was cleaned-up on six by a peach of a delivery by Sreesanth. The ball had swung in the air and moved off the pitch, going through the defences of the batsman and
hitting top of middle-stump. The only problem with the delivery was that it was illegal, as Sreesanth had overstepped.
Sangakkara went onto make 65 runs off just 47 balls in the match with the help of 10 fours. Cameron White also scored a crucial 31 runs for his team, helping them to post a decent target of 130 for the opposition.
However, Jayawardene’s side failed badly with the bat, as top-six batsmen were sent back to the pavilion for just 11 runs on the board. Five out of those were dismissed for a duck.
Although there was some resistance by the lower-order batsmen, KTK were bundled-up for 74 in their innings, courtesy some extraordinary bowling by Steyn and Sharma. Both shared eight wickets in between them.
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