May 2, 2021 was the last time Ishant Sharma played in the IPL. He had gone unsold in the IPL 2022 mega-auction and, in the IPL 2023 auction, was then bought for his base price of INR 50 lakhs by Delhi Capitals, with whom he’d spent his last three seasons and played in only 4 matches across 2020 and 2021 seasons with just 1 wicket to show.
On April 20, 2023, Ishant Sharma made a complete comeback in the IPL as Delhi Capitals, who had bought him as a backup pacer, played him in the XI, in place of Mustaqfizur Rahman, who had to be dropped to include wicket-keeper Phil Salt, who had to come in to replace the underperforming Abhishek Porel, who had been playing in the absence of Rishabh Pant.
This mess in itself suggests how badly Delhi’s season has been going – 5 matches, 5 losses.
But, today, Ishant Sharma, the 34-year-old veteran, came like a breath of fresh air for the Capitals and played a crucial role in them restricting the Kolkata Knight Riders for 127.
The lanky Indian seamer returned with brilliant figures of 2/19 in 4 overs, maintaining a terrific economy of 4.8! This is one of the best performances by Ishant Sharma in his IPL career. He took the wickets of the in-form Nitish Rana, catching the splice of his bat and mistiming his shot, caught by mid-on, and that of the dangerous Sunil Narine, caught at mid-wicket.
This has been the tournament of the old veterans turning the clock back and putting up spectacular performances. Add Ishant Sharma’s name to that list.
Fans came up with some hilarious jokes and memes on Ishant Sharma’s comeback to the IPL:
https://twitter.com/mananthakurr/status/1649073927044624384?s=20
Rahane getting shouts for WTC final on basis of IPL performance then why not Ishant Sharma?
— Pushkar (@Musafirr_hu_yar) April 20, 2023
Bloody hell, who knew that Ishant Sharma was the answer when DC didn’t even know the question #dcvskkr
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) April 20, 2023
Damn i thought Ishant was the bowling coach, dint realise he's in the squad
— Varun (@wizardrincewind) April 20, 2023
Ishant still plays IPL?
— . (@finehaihum) April 20, 2023
https://twitter.com/rajdeepcric/status/1649069631666290691?s=20
The legendary Ishant Sharma with two wickets for 19 runs from his four overs for Delhi Capitals. Class is permanent. #IPL2023
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) April 20, 2023
https://twitter.com/Sleeper_Cellz/status/1649082491171639302?s=20
https://twitter.com/sri_ashutosh08/status/1649083127544020992?s=20
https://twitter.com/numbIITian/status/1649074163867611137?s=20
Ishant Sharma gets a wicket in the IPL 2023 after making a return in 717 days.
Meanwhile Delhi Capitals fans be like#DCvKKR #IPL2023 #KKRvsDC pic.twitter.com/hm2wL5QI2u
— Ashutosh Srivastava 🇮🇳 (@sri_ashutosh08) April 20, 2023
Ishant Sharma pic.twitter.com/nX4PAZ1cOU
— Tingus Pingis (@bent_copper) April 20, 2023
Ishant sharma pic.twitter.com/rtiHyWFKfu
— #AllHailTheTiger🐯🌊 (@mann0se) April 20, 2023
Meanwhile, earlier, David Warner had won the toss and elected to field first vs KKR in Delhi.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Litton Das(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Mandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Philip Salt(w), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar
