Indian coach Ravi Shastri has revealed fast bowler Ishant Sharma will be playing county cricket in the coming days as he is set to join Kent.
The 28-year old has looked low in confidence and is facing healthy competition with the likes of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the test team. Ishant is currently planning to play county cricket as he looks to regain his former self when he used to tantalize best batsmen around the world.
And Ravi Shastri is very open to the idea of Indian players playing county cricket to learn new traits and gain experience in England. Ishant will not be the first player to play county this year as the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ravichandran Ashwin have already made commitments to play in the tournament for their respective clubs.
Ashwin has been rested from the series against Sri Lanka and could well be missing Australia series as he looks to improve his magical spin in English conditions.
“I am all for that. Pujara, Ashwin and now Ishant is also going, I think he is joining Kent. These are vital and key players in our team. The more players go, the merrier. I would like to see a couple more of fast bowlers going there.”
Shastri has also recalled how Zaheer Khan became much-improved bowler after his spell in county cricket playing for Worcestershire a decade ago. He believes more Indian fast bowlers should spend time in county cricket.
“Zaheer Khan went there for a couple seasons to Worcestershire and he was a changed bowler. So I would love to see Umesh Yadav or Mohammed Shami going there, even if for short periods,” said the coach.
He also backed Indian batsmen like Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma to go and play in England to improve their skills before playing England tour.
“And why just the bowlers, the batsmen should go too. If they want to before the tour, be it Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma or others, I am all for it,” he added.
If you look at Indian team’s packed schedule, it remains to be seen how much more Indian cricketers can afford their time to county cricket in the off season.