The 2008 Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the tour of Australia is one of the most memorable for a generation of Indian cricket fans. There was an edge to that encounter, an air of hostility which was made even more fiery by a spate of poor umpiring decisions and plenty of back-and-forth between the two teams.

India had taken a 2-0 deficit from the first two matches of that series, losing in both Melbourne and Sydney. While the MCG was home to a heavy loss, the SCG loss was seen as the result of umpires favouring the home team, with India succumbing to a loss on the fifth day despite being in a good position to fight for a draw.

Michael Clarke’s special penultimate over performance seemed to put a chip on India’s shoulder, captained by MS Dhoni. There was a sentiment that they were more than capable of competing with the Aussies in their backyard, and with fire behind them from perceived injustice in Sydney, India entered the Perth Test at the WACA ready to fight tooth and nail for a result.

India were finally able to generate a first innings lead, and ended up needing to defend 413 against the Aussies on the final two days. Ishant Sharma, long-haired and all of 19 years old, had already taken the crucial middle-order wickets of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke in the first innings, but the spell he would bowl to the Australian skipper on day four at the WACA will go down as one of the most significant in Indian cricket history, as India put forth a pacer who was able to make a batter of Ponting’s quality dance around and look uncomfortable on home turf.

Ishant inspires win for visiting Indian team

Tall, lanky, with a strong action and able to generate both a hint of reverse swing as well as seam movement off the WACA surface, Ishant was most importantly possessed with the competitive spirit that is essential to front up against the pressure of playing that legendary Australian team. Throughout a spell that saw him land the ball just short of a length, consistently jagging back in towards Ponting’s pads and midriff, Ishant didn’t shy away from letting Ponting know that the experienced skipper was in all sorts of trouble.

Ponting played and missed at a couple, left others which seamed in sharply to strike him on the pads, and looked out of sorts. One finally had his name on it: slightly fuller, Ishant caught Ponting defending in an awkward position, and Rahul Dravid was ready at first slip to pouch a regulation catch.

Reflecting on the spell for an interview with ESPNcricinfo many years later, at the other end of his strong career for India, Ishant spoke about managing to do this as a teenager against one of the biggest names in the sport. “Sometimes a fast bowler achieves rhythm: when you want to bowl where you want to, and when that starts happening, suddenly things start changing,” said Ishant. India went on to bowl Australia out, sending the series to Adelaide at 2-1.

“You can say that like a batsman enters a zone, a bowler also enters a similar zone - you are running in well, you are bowling well, your ball is swinging, automatically the ball is going straight from the same spot. So when I myself did not know, how would the batsman know when the ball was straightening?”

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