India v England – How former Yorkshire CCC coach Jason Gillespie played pivotal role in Ishant Sharma’s Test milestone

“I don’t know,” he replied, “but if they do, they’ll be bloody tired.”

What once seemed the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest – there were not so many Test matches in those days – has now become commonplace to the point of mundanity.

Ishant Sharma yesterday became the 35th player to achieve the feat, the India fast bowler doing so on his 98th appearance (31 more than Trueman) as the hosts fought to stay alive on day four in the first Test in Chennai.

On a day when India reached 39-1 in their second innings, set a world record 420 to win, Sharma became the sixth Indian to hit the milestone after Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh, Ravi Ashwin and Zaheer Khan.

Like the archetypal fine wine, the 32-year-old gets better with age; prior to 2018, roughly the first three-quarters of his Test career, Sharma averaged a distinctly underwhelming 36.55 with the ball.

Since then, the 6ft 4in pace bowler, with his distinctive mop of flowing black hair, is averaging 19.39, an incredible improvement.

Sharma credits much of it to Jason Gillespie, the former Yorkshire coach, who worked with him while he was coach at Sussex, the Australian master only too happy to assist a man who impressed him with his “thirst for knowledge”.

They talked a lot about wrist position and Sharma trying to hit the top of the batsman’s knee roll.

“A lot of people would tell me that I need to increase the pace of my fuller deliveries,” Sharma reflected.

“No-one told me how to do that. When I went to play county cricket, Jason Gillespie told me the solution.

“Gillespie told me that in order to increase the pace of my fuller deliveries, you don’t just release it but hit the deck so that it should hit the knee roll.”

Gillespie, typically, simply praised Sharma.

“It was down to his attitude and his mindset, and his openness to learn and try different things,” he said.

“It was down to Ishant. He did wonderfully well.”

Sharma’s 300th wicket was that of Dan Lawrence, who was trapped lbw by a ball that he tried to drive back down the ground but which slanted beneath the toe of the bat.

It looked plumb and Lawrence’s decision to send it upstairs was arguably the worst review since Mark Twain famously dismissed The Book of Mormon as “chloroform in print”.

Chettithody Shamshuddin, the television umpire, actually spent much of his time adjudicating on front foot no-balls, with India guilty of over-stepping 27 times in the match.

As each no-ball is followed by the sound of a siren going off, there have been times when this Test match has felt like watching an episode of Traffic Cops as they chase morons driving stolen cars through housing estates at terrifying speed.

To be fair, the siren came in useful during the final session, when England’s second innings slowed to a sleep-inducing standstill pending a declaration that actually never came.

Instead, the tourists batted on until they were dismissed for 178, Joe Root top-scoring with 40 from 32 balls with seven fours and Ashwin taking 6-61, lifting his Test wicket tally to 386 and above Sir Ian Botham to put him 18th on the all-time list.

No doubt England, whose tactics were criticised, were mindful of such explosive batsmen as Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, despite the towering nature of India’s target, and they were pleased to see the back of Sharma after a cameo that included a pulled six off Jofra Archer.

Jack Leach got one to drift in and strike the top of off, the ball turning and gripping to the extent that England must be heavy favourites to go 1-0 up in the four-match series.

This day, however, belonged to Sharma.

Pace bowling in India is a thankless task, so there have been few more deserving members of the 300 club.

“It has been a roller-coaster life,” he reflected.

“I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve had a lot of mentors in my life who have told me how to bowl in the sub-continent and abroad.”

Although the target is stiff, Sharma insisted that India will not give up.

“It all depends on how we start (on day five),” he added.

“If we get a good start, I am sure that we can chase this down.

“We have a fearless batting line-up and we are very positive, so it’s about how we start and then we can think about how we go through the game.”

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