Ishant Sharma likely to join squad in SA

Ishant Sharma, the 18-year-old Delhi medium pacer, is likely be sent to South Africa ahead of the final Test at Cape Town.

Sharma, currently playing in only his fifth first-class match, is likely to join the squad before the final Test. With Irfan Pathan being sent back to India to play domestic cricket, and Munaf Patel yet to regain full fitness from an ankle injury, Sharma may be asked to step in and fill the breach in the squad, should the need arise, through another injury.

When contacted, Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, would neither confirm nor deny the story. "If the need arises for a replacement, and the team management feels the shortcoming, then the selectors will discuss the matter over the telephone and decide on a replacement," Shah told Cricinfo. Dilip Vengsarkar also echoed his views, telling reporters in Durban that Sharma won't be joining the team.

Rahul Dravid, speaking at the toss ahead of the second Test, said that Munaf was not yet fully fit, but did stress that he was only "two or three days" from where the team wanted him to be, suggesting that he would be fit in time for the next Test.

However, it is learnt that the preparations to get Sharma across to South Africa are already under way. "We want him [Sharma] to see what happens at the highest level," said a senior Indian board official and an unimpeachable source, who did not want to be named for obvious reasons. "We believe it will be good for his development." Although this goes against the grain of what the board secretary told Cricinfo on the record, it corroborates all the other indications received from the team management and sources in South Africa.

Should he go, it is unlikely that Sharma will figure in the playing eleven, but it is believed that he is being sent to South Africa to get a feel of international cricket and the Indian dressing-room and to obtain firsthand guidance from Greg Chappell, the Indian coach, and Ian Fraser, a member of the support staff.

Sharma plays for the Rohtak Road Gymkhana Club in Delhi and, though in his debut first-class season, has a couple of Under-19 tours under his belt. He's currently playing for Delhi against Saurashtra in Rajkot, where he has 3 for 117 from 36 overs; prior to this match he'd picked up 19 wickets from four games, with one five-wicket haul against Baroda. His USP is the ability to extract unnerving bounce, thanks mainly to his build - Sharma is 6'4" tall and lanky, and is nicknamed Lambu for obvious reasons.

Sharma's cause has probably been helped by the fact that Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, was in Delhi a couple of weeks ago watching him bowl in a Ranji trophy match against Tamil Nadu. On a shirtfront of a Kotla wicket, where the ball barely carried through to the keeper, Sharma put in a good effort.

Lalchand Rajput, the coach of the Indian U-19 team, was impressed with Sharma's bowling, and apart from praising the bowler in the media had also conveyed his thoughts to the BCCI.