Ishant Sharma in rhythm can pierce through any batting line up in the world. When he gets that sharp in-swinger coming in from the tall frame of more than 2 meters, it is nearly impossible to deal with them. And that’s what Ishant managed to do on the second day of the only practice game against Sri Lanka Board President’s Eleven. “It was pretty good. More than overs, if you get wickets in your bag it’s really important. That gives you confidence, so that’s what I try to do,” Ishant said.
His first spell before the lunch was venomous and he looked like taking a wicket off every ball. He gave five runs in four overs to take five top order wickets. And that’s a good start to a tour which will be demanding for the fast bowlers. “Specially playing in Asia, the conditions are always tough. But it’s a challenge, you have to take it as a challenge,” Ishant said.
“It’s easy to say it’s hot, the wicket is flat and I don’t want to bowl. The tough thing is to go out there and bowl 20 overs for the team and get those three important wickets. If you are playing at this level, you need to do that.”
He is the leader of this young fast bowling attack of India. He is the one with most number of Test caps in the fast bowling department. The likes of Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will look up to him for advice and suggestions. And he is ready for this role.
“I just tell them to adapt to the situation. I think it is very important in Test cricket. Test cricket is not about really bowling, it is about how you bowl in different situations, especially with the Kookaburra ball. Because conditions are different from Australia, New Zealand, etc, because it’s not going to help much. Ball is going to swing only for 12-14 overs, so after that how you will bowl is really important How you bowl from 40-70 overs is really important,” added Ishant.
Everyday on the field is the learning curve of a cricketer and Ishant is no different. His performance on the field reconfirmed his belief of doing the basics rights, “Initially with Kookaburra ball it swings and I was just swinging the ball and there was a little bit of help for the fast bowlers.
So I just stuck to basics. I think when you are playing at this level, it is more important to stick to the basics. Then it will be easy for you to perform at this international level,” he said.
Ishant is experienced to understand the effects of Kookaburra ball used in Test cricket and he knows that after first few overs you need to keep the ball in good shape to extract some help. “We have been discussing how to maintain the ball and what we will do when the ball is old. What we need to do in certain situations when the batsman is set and the ball is old. So all these things you need to keep on thinking about and keep talking to your bowlers.
The wicket at Premadasa had tinge of green and kept offering something to the fast bowlers all the time. Ishant is hopeful that the trend will continue. “I think the major difference is the ball. They leave a bit of grass here, that’s why the new ball is seaming and swinging a bit. As you can see with the new ball we also lost three wickets and they also lost quite a few wickets.”
Conditions in Asia will by and large challenge the strength and stamina of the fast bowlers. In these humid, sultry and most of the times on unresponsive wickets only one thing can help you to survive and excel. Ishant calls it belief. “To be honest, playing in Asia, fast bowlers need to believe in themselves because you will not get as many overs as the spinners get because spinners will dominate in Asia. But whenever you get a chance, you need to keep believing in yourself and you must keep telling yourself that I am here to do something and I will do it.”
