HT Correspondent sportsdesk@hindustantimes.com Ishant cleared fit, set for New Zealand Tests

NEW DELHI: India pacer Ishant Sharma passed a fitness test on Saturday after recovering from an ankle injury and will travel to New Zealand for the Test series.

The tall bowler, who returned to Delhi from the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru late on Saturday, is expected to fly to New Zealand on Monday to join the team for the series starting on February 21. Ishant twisted his ankle on his bowling follow through in Delhi’s Ranji Trophy game against Vidarbha on January 20. Initial reports of MRI done in a Delhi clinic suggested he had suffered a Grade 3 tear and would be out of action for six weeks. That indicated he would be unavailable for the two-Test series.

“It was a roller coaster ride for me after the injury on my ankle on the 20th January but with the help of Ashish Kaushik I managed to pull it off! Scans were a little scary, but today I am happy that I am fit. Thanks Ashish Kaushik,” tweeted Ishant, who is four short of becoming only the second India fast bowler to play 100 Tests, while thanking the NCA physio. A Grade 3 tear would require a long time to recover. Experts say MRIs don’t always give the right picture.

“Sometimes MRIs would show a Grade 3 tear and based on that the doctors suggest surgery. But in many of these cases, about 50% of the time, MRIs are wrong and we find there is no tear. To check its authenticity, we do our own (physical) tests. It is quite possible this happened in the case of Ishant as well,” said Dr Deep Sury, the Delhi Ranji team physiotherapist, who had also worked with Ishant ahead of the Ranji season.

The selectors had included Ishant in the Test squad pending a fitness clearance.