Withdrawal Symptoms

Well, the hair is almost back. Almost back to the days when that cross between a mullet and a mere sneer towards the fraternity of hairdressers flew in the wake of his flowing bowling action. But so far, only the hair is back, not the bowling. In fact, he looks positively jaded. He could be tired, overworked, out of rhythm, off his game and any other possible prognosis that can be conjured up, but observing him, the only word that comes to mind is jaded. Jaded in his eyes, jaded in those shoulders and jaded in his gait and demeanor. In the blink of an eye, Ishant Sharma went from being the great Indian fast bowling hope to its latest casualty seamlessly. And right now, his bowling is just as seamless off the pitch. It is not just the hair, but he is quite unrecognizable from his brief stint as India’s hope for the future.