Ishant Sharma, India’s most senior speedster in this Caribbean tour, has done an honest self-observation of his bowling capability and after all these years has come to a conclusion that he hasn’t been suited for limited overs cricket, unlike longer version where he still remains the pace spearhead.
“You have to be honest with yourself and that makes it easier for you to accept things. I have to accept that I didn’t do well in shorter formats. But I am doing well in Tests and so I know what my strengths are. It’s important to know what your strengths are,” Ishant revealed in an interview with BCCI.TV, a day after the two-day practice game.
Talking about his own strength, Ishant explained that it actually varies from player to player. “Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar)’s strength is swing but he can’t extract the bounce like I can do. Similarly, I can’t get the ball to swing like Bhuvi,” said Ishant, who has 201 wickets from 68 Test matches.
The lanky pacer also talked about sharing his experiences with other young pacers like Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar, Shardul Thakur. “I am sharing my experiences and hoping that what worked for me also work for them. But then they have to also identify their areas of strength.”
Ishant thinks conditions in the Caribbean islands will be much more “challenging” as it will be “hot” and the “recovery” will be most important for the pacers.
However, he reckons these days flat pitches can’t be an excuse for pacers on just bowling right areas and depending on spinners.
“You have to have enough overs under your belt. You have to work hard enough even if conditions are not favourable. It is easy to give up and say there’s nothing in the wicket so spinners will do the job and we will only try to hit the areas. It doesn’t work like that. especially for me, as I like to go flat out whether it is my second or third spell. I love to give my hundred percent.”
Ishant, who made his debut in 2007, has so far played 68 Tests, 80 ODIs and 14 T20Is for India. Ishant is at the eighth spot in the list of most wickets for India in Tests, as he has so far grabbed 201 wickets in 68 Test. But, in 80 ODIs, he has 78 scalps to his name and in 14 T20Is he has only 8 wickets.