During IPL going on in India, very few players do actually turn into County Cricket in England. Some players in the past, when turned down by IPL franchises have turned to County Championship to update their Skills. Previously Cheteswara Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin have been seen in County cricket and that has enhanced their game a lot. This time Indian pacer Ishant Sharma remained unsold in Ipl and thus is seen trying out a hand for Sussex in County Cricket.
Ishant didn’t disappoint at all. He shined through in his debut County appearance taking Five wickets for Sussex. As a result, Sussex had a draw with Warwickshire at Birmingham. His figures were quite impressive too. They were 20.2-4-53-3 and 9-3-16-2.
The club even tweeted congratulating the pacer on his debut:
Five wickets for @ImIshant on his @CountyChamp debut! 💫
Highlights from day four of our season opener vs. Warwickshire are available now. #gosbts
➡️https://t.co/dS7WoXhAyj pic.twitter.com/r3gx944P8C
— Sussex CCC (@SussexCCC) April 17, 2018
Ishant is signed by Sussex for the first two months of the championship and will be playing for the team in all the eight group stage games. Pujara too is now seen playing for Yorkshire, he had previously played for Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and even Derbyshire.
“Playing county cricket means you prepare on wickets where every ball could be the last you face in an innings. The wickets are really challenging and I love challenges. County cricket has improved me as a player and I just want to score as many runs as possible for Yorkshire and prepare for the Test series against England and the road ahead.” Ishant said.
Not only that, Virat Kohli too is going to make a brief appearance in the County at later stages pertaining to the start of India tour of England.
“Virat Kohli will be playing for the top English County side Surrey in the month of June. The BCCI has allowed him to fully focus on the England Test series along with Cheteshwar Pujara (Yorkshire), Ravichandran Ashwin (Warwickshire) and Ishant Sharma (Sussex). Virat will miss the Test match against Afghanistan in Bangalore from June 14-18,” COA chief Vinod Rai said.
