ISHANT SHARMA SCORES MAIDEN FIRSTCLASS FIFTY IN ENGLAND

MUMBAI: India pacer Ishant Sharma, who was snubbed at the IPL 2018 player auction, continued his impressive run with Sussex. After creating a buzz with his five-wicket haul against Warwickshire, Ishant shone with the bat in Sussex’s ongoing County Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire. Playing the 120th first-class match of his career, he registered his maiden fifty at Leicester on Saturday. His innings of 66 came off 141 balls and lasted 182 minutes. Prior to this, the 29-yearold’s highest first-class score was only 31. Batting at No 9, Ishant came out on Friday evening with his team’s scores reading 240 for 7. He negotiated the remaining overs without much difficulty and remained unbeaten on 8 in the company of wicketkeeper

Michael Burgess as Sussex closed the day at 254/7.

Ishant and Burgess sent Leicestershire on a leather hunt, putting on 153 runs for the 8th wicket. While Burgess went on to score a hundred, the lanky tail-ender reached his first half-century before being caught by Griffins off Javid. Ishant returned to claim two important wickets to put Sussex in a strong position. Cheteshwar Pujara made headlines again for his poor running between wickets.

The 30-year-old, who became the first Indian cricketer to be run out twice in a Test at Centurion in January, was dismissed in the same manner while playing for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire at Leeds. Pujara was on 18 when he showed lapse in judgement and went for a non-existent run, which resulted in a familiar mode of dismissal.