97 jersey number in cricket

The numbers on cricketers’ shirts help identify a player to the officials, commentators, or even the spectators. The numbers on the front of a player’s shirt indicate the chronological position of their appearance for a particular country. Whereas, numbers on the back are typically self-chosen. However, these numbers are not always just useful for commentators or spectators alone. Sometimes, the jersey numbers of cricketers have much larger personal significance.

Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma is an Indian cricketer who has represented India in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He is a 6 ft 5 in tall right-arm fast-medium bowler. At the age of 18, Sharma was called to join the Indian squad for the tour of South Africa in 2006–07. However, after receiving the call and organizing travel arrangements, he was deselected. In reference to his height and lean physique in his Under-19 days, the bowler was nicknamed Lambu.

In 2011, he became one of the youngest players to take 100 Test wickets. Against South Africa in 2013, Ishant Sharma became one of the quickest Indians to grab 100 ODI wickets. While being a “rhythm” bowler, he still is considered one of the fastest Indian bowlers having bowled in excess of 150 km/h on several occasions in international cricket as well as the IPL (he 152.2 km/h bowled to Ricky Ponting on Boxing Day Test in 2011). In 2020, Indian government has awarded him the Arjuna Award to recognize his outstanding achievement in cricket.

In February 2021, during the series against England, Ishant took his 300th wicket in Test cricket.

A right arm fast-medium bowler, the speed of Sharma’s bowling has diminished since he emerged on the international scene, although in 2008 he bowled a delivery at over 152 kilometres per hour (94 mph). Such occurrences were not the norm as his pace dropped to around 130 km/h (81 mph), but under Eric Simons (who was India’s bowling coach from 2010 to 2012) Sharma was regularly bowling in excess of 140 km/h (87 mph) when India toured Australia in 2011/12. According to India’s former bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad he is amongst the most dedicated bowlers in India’s set up.

Simons noted height was a factor in the length Sharma bowled, saying “For Ishant to hit the stumps, he has to pitch it fuller, and that means the batsman has more chance of keeping it out”. Former West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh identified two problems with Sharma’s bowling action: his head drops when the ball is delivered and the position of his wrist varies. The first takes some of the speed out of the delivery, while the second reduces the chance of the ball seaming and swinging.

The former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar suggested that the lack of movement in Sharma’s bowling discouraged him from pitching the ball up so instead, he tends to bowl short. The slower pace of his bowling when he pitches the ball up may explain why the yorker is not an effective delivery for him. Manjrekar went further, saying that “for all his talent and commitment he just does not take enough wickets”; when the remark was made in January 2012, Sharma had a bowling average of nearly 37 from 43 Tests.

Former Australian great, Glenn McGrath, feels Ishant is more of a workhorse than a strike bowler and needs to figure out his role in the Indian team, but he is happy that Ishant is slowly adapting to conditions, commenting “When Ishant started off, he took the world by storm bowling good pace. He is probably not bowling at the same pace. But he is much more experienced now with good control. The Edgbaston Test showed that Ishant has started adopting a bit more”. McGrath also acknowledged the fact that playing on sub-continent tracks might have contributed to a not so impressive record of Ishant and believes that Ishant has to hit the seam more often, saying “You have got to hit the seam and maybe a bit of movement off the pitch will help. My weapon was bounce and occasionally a bit of seam movement”.

Fabian Allen

Fabian Allen is a Jamaican cricketer. He made his first-class debut for Jamaica in the 2016–17 Regional Four Day Competition on 25 November 2016. Prior to his first-class debut, he was part of the West Indies squad for the 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his international debut for the West Indies in October 2018.

Haris Rauf

Haris Rauf is a Pakistani cricketer. He made his international debut for the Pakistan cricket team in January 2020. He made his Twenty20 debut for the Lahore Qalandars in the 2018 Abu Dhabi T20 Trophy on 5 October 2018. In November 2018, he was selected by the Lahore Qalandars in the players’ draft for the 2019 Pakistan Super League tournament.

Stephan Myburgh

Stephanus Johannes Myburgh is a Dutch-South African cricketer who has played at One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) level for the Dutch national side. He is a left-handed batsman and right-arm offbreak bowler.

Kyle Verreynne

Kyle Verreynne is a South African cricketer known for playing with Western Province. He made his international debut for the South Africa cricket team in February 2020.

Haseeb Hameed

Haseeb Hameed is an English cricketer known for playing with Nottinghamshire and England. Primarily a right-handed batsman, he also bowls right-arm leg spin. He made his international debut for England in November 2016.