A tall, lean bowler with the nickname 'Lambu' tormented the legendary Ricky Ponting during India's tour to Australia in 2008. In the same series, this long-haired bowler from Delhi bowled the fastest delivery ever by an Indian clocking 152.6km/h. Ishant Sharma was the protagonist of Summer of 2008 in Australia. His exhibition swing bowling carried on to the subsequent tri-series, where he led the Indian bowling lineup with 14 wickets. Sharma began his first-class career in 2006. He made his international debut in a Test match against Bangladesh in 2007. His ODI debut came against South Africa in the same year. In the 2008-09 home series against Australia, Sharma was named the Player of the Series and was the leading wicket-taker. However, soon the toils of international cricket began to affect him, and his form went down. However, since 2016, he has been considered as a Test match specialist. He is only the second fast bowler to play 100 Tests for India, after Kapil Dev. A decrease in his pace after his earlier success has been attributed by some to him bowling continuously in the flat pitches found in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the 2019 IPL auction, Delhi Capitals signed him for Rs. 1.1 crore.