Watch birthday boy Ishant Sharma's best Test bowling performances on foreign soil

After a whirlwind start to his career, Ishant Sharma has fallen down the pecking order in the Indian pace battery over the years. At 19, batting legends like Younis Khan and Ricky Ponting were hopping around at the popping crease as the lanky pacer was seaming the ball back in from good length. Despite being written off as a bowler who failed to live up to high initial promise, Sharma, at 28, has his best years ahead of him.

In the new millenium, India's track record away from home has improved by leaps and bounds, pioneered by Sourav Ganguly. Under MS Dhoni, the team regressed somewhat, but Sharma has been a part of some devastating spells, having put his team in a positon of command with his bowling displays. In England and in New Zealand, the Delhi pacer has managed to scalp six and seven wickets respecively in an innings.

Under the leadership of childhood friend Virat Kohli, Sharma played a pivotal role in a rare away win, against Sri Lanka in the latter part of last year. After taking five wickets in 21 balls in a practise game, he went on to take 13 wickets in the three-Test series. That would go on to be a gateway to clawing his way back in the side, after it looked like James Faulkner had bashed every ounce of Sharma's confidence in 2013.

Auckland 2014 - 6/134 and 3/28

This Test would go down in the list of games that India ought to have won after Sharma, Zaheer Khan and Mohammed Shami ran through the Kiwi batting lineup in the second innings. After Kane Williamson and Brendon McCullum, who scored a double century, batted India out for the first two days, Sharma dismissed the middle order cheaply.

On what was a good batting surface at the Eden Park, Sharma finished with figures of 9/162 in the Test match, which India lost narrowly by 40 runs.

The Lord of Lord's - 7/74

India had set England a target of 319 in the fourth innings. After being subjected to the artistry of James Anderson on day one, the visitors fought back in the match through Ajinkya Rahane's defiant century and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's six-for in the first essay. In what was Dhoni's finest day as an Indian captain away from home, the English were on the recieving end of a barrage of short-pitched stuff from Sharma, a ploy that the home side were unable to cope with.

With fielders stationed in the boundary and around the batsmen, Sharma ran through what was a long England batting order and picked up 7/74 to give India the lead in the five-Test series, thereby etching his name in the Lord's honours board.

Ricky Ponting's hour from hell in 2008

India had just come back from an ill-tempered contest in Sydney, where a series of contentious calls from umpires led Anil Kumble's side to slump to a dramatic loss. The Indians bounced back in style at Perth, which was an Australian fortress, winning by 72 runs. Sharma's spell to Ricky Ponting in the second innings was a compelling contest.

Had the two-time World Cup-winning captain seen off Sharma, he may have gone on to register a big score, like he has on innumerable occasions in the past. Here, Ponting was outfoxed in the battle, and was beaten regularly with balls that were a touch on the shorter side, whizzing past his bat on the off-stump corridor. After coming close a dozen times, Sharma finally has his man as he edged the ball to Rahul Dravid at first slip.

Sri Lanka vs India 2015 - 8/86 match haul

India were in the driver's seat with the Lankans left to chase a humungous total of 386. Sharma's early burst ensured that India had firmly pressed for advantage in the game. The pitch at the Sinhalese Sports Club was on the slower side. It was imperative that a pacer had variations in his bowling arsenal to take wickets.

Sharma picked up five in the first innings and followed that up with a three-wicket haul in the second, seldom straying line length, like he his culpable of doing in one-day cricket.