Ishant Sharma was on fire in the first innings against Sri Lankan Board President’s XI in a warm-up match ahead of the three match Test series against Sri Lanka that starts on August 12. His 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. In an interview to BCCI.tv, Ishant spoke about various things including his fiery spell.
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. Specially playing in Asia, the conditions are always tough. But it’s a challenge, you have to take it as a challenge. 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, Ishant said about his deadly spell.
Ishant Sharma is the leader of the attack that has the likes of Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The pacers 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. 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, added Ishant.
On Bowling in Asia, Ishant said that pacers need to believe in themselves and they have to perform whenever they get a chance to bowl. He said 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.
He also said that he will go hard on retiring cricketer Kumar Sangakkara. He said He is playing for his country and I am playing for my country. We played together only in the IPL and this is international match. So I will not think that he is playing his last game, I will go hard at him.
