India's go-to man

It's the time of year when red carpets roll out. If Hollywood glittered at the Oscars on Monday, Brett Lee won the Allan Border medal in Melbourne last night.

If there was a gong for best visiting player, Ishant Sharma could just have been the top nomination. It has been that kind of summer for the tall Indian fast bowler. On a flat pitch at the picturesque Bellerive Oval yesterday, he came up with another top performance to add another star to his lapel. Praveen Kumar deserved his podium position after he sent back the nucleus of the Sri Lankan top order, but Ishant ran him close.

His moment came in the second half of the Sri Lankan innings. With the last recognised pair of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chamara Kapugedera battling hard, Dhoni wasn't about to take the foot off anyone's throats and went to his go-to man, just as he had all series.

Immediately, Ishant brought one in and had Dilshan trapped plumb. Earlier, one that held its line had accounted for Dilruwan Perera's off stump. Chaminda Vaas tried slogging after failing to get the previous seven Ishant deliveries away, and the mistimed pull landed in Gautam Gambhir's hands at midwicket.

Later, when the eighth-wicket pair of Kapugedera and Lasith Malinga were proving to be a thorn in India's flesh, Ishant again provided relief, removing the latter in the first over of his third spell. His three spells read: 5-0-27-1, 3-0-6-2 and 2-0-3-1.

In just over a month Ishant has transformed himself from first-change to strike bowler. He has done the basics right, as his captain pointed out. "He is bowling in the areas that he needs to," Dhoni said. "He is not a normal Indian fast bowler in that he's more of a bowler who hits the deck and gets bounce. And he's young, fresh".

Ishant's biggest advantage is his height, but there are and have been many tall fast bowlers who fail to make full use of their long limbs. What Ishant seems to have got right is the ability to hit that elusive length, ball after ball, and supplementing it with extra bounce. Add to that lively pace and you have a fast bowler who allows batsmen little breathing space. He is just 19, but has consistently been displaying the qualities that made Curtly Ambrose and Glenn McGrath, fellow gangly bowlers, so much more intimidating.

Players around the world are always keen on touring Australia because of the learning experience on offer. Ishant is no different and has soaked up his lessons well.

In Melbourne two weeks ago, when India clashed with Australia for the second time, Ishant had a bit of a horror start: his first ball was a no-ball and his second over went for 18 runs, with Matthew Hayden hitting him for three fours. But he managed to put it behind him. He kept at it, pitching it right, digging it in just short of a length and keeping the speed gun busy. Most important, he made the batsman play - and eventually had the measure of Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds, all caught behind.

Australia never recovered from those strikes and India went on to win. After the game Ricky Ponting had praise for his young opponent: "He's a dangerous bowler and someone we're really going to have to pay a lot of attention to as the series goes on".

The temptation is strong for Dhoni is to overuse his trump card, but he is understandably wary of doing so. Already, Ishant has been bowling non-stop more or less from the second Test in Sydney at the start of the year. "Ishant needs rest. We need to preserve him so that he can serve India cricket for a long time," Dhoni said, but added that in the absence of his other two strike bowlers - Zaheer Khan and RP Singh - he had little choice.

Luckily for India they have a four-day break before they arrive at the SCG for the first of the three finals. Ishant will be eager to take it easy these few days, and just as desperate to resume what has become normal service straight after.