Ishant Sharma

Hailed as the next big thing in Indian cricket, Ishant Sharma shot into the limelight by bowling a dream spell to Ricky Ponting in the Perth Test when India toured Australia in 2008. Ishant, who hails from Delhi, is nicknamed Lambu (meaning Tall Guy), which is in reference to his lean and tall build. Measuring 193cm, Ishant started playing serious cricket at the age of 14 and soon made his Ranji Trophy debut for Delhi at the age of 18. He was first selected for India in May 2007 when India toured Bangladesh and made his Test debut in that same series. His big break came when he prised out the Pakistani side on a flat Chinnaswamy deck en route to taking 5/140 in December 2007. That bowling effort won him a place on India's tour to Australia and from then on there was no looking back for the lanky lad.

Ishant, has a lovely high-arm action and is able to bowl close to the 140 kph mark consistently, which troubled the Aussies no end in that 2008 tour. The Aussie captain Ponting was Ishant's bunny as he dismissed him six times in seven Test matches. Ishant also had the distinction of having delivered the fastest ball ever bowled by an Indian, when he clocked 152.6 km/h (94.8mph) at Adelaide Oval against Australia on February 17, 2008. In the process, he also became the first Indian to bowl over 150 km/h, beating teammate Ashish Nehra's 149.7 kph delivery.

After all the exploits in the ensuing CB series, which finished with Ishant ending up as the highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 wickets to his name, Ishant had well and truly arrived on the international scene. Often compared to Javagal Srinath for a similarly lean build and high-arm action, Ishant, continued to shine and during the inaugural auction of the IPL, he was picked up for a whopping $950,000 by Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan for his franchise Kolkata - making him one of the highest paid players - and instantly catapulting him into the big league at the tender age of 20.