Ishant Sharma’s childhood coach blames Venkatesh Prasad for pacer’s past failures 

Ishant Sharma‘s childhood coach Sharvan Kumar has a feeling that all the criticism that the bowler faced in the recent times was “justified” and is also proud that his favourite ward has answered back in the best possible way and has proved his quality by winning an overseas Test match for India.

Sharvan stated PTI after Ishant’s seven for 74 helped in India’s 95-run win that one can’t deny that consistency has been a big problem for Ishant. He hopes this will be the series that will make him a better bowler and will prove vital for his career. He got flak for his inconsistency and it was justified. Or else, he wouldn’t have been able to correct his flaws and come back stronger. When asked about the kind of problems that Ishant faced, Sharvan didn’t miss a chance in blaming former India bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad for the problems that crept up in his bowling.

Ishant is a quick bowler but Prasad insisted him on turning into a line and length bowler, going against his bowling style. He lost his natural affinity for speed at one point of time. One thing led to other and his action became flawed. The shoulder started dropping and the wrist position also suffered. This caused a drop in pace as well as confidence and poor performance followed this were the words of Sharvan, who coached Ishant at the Patel Nagar’s Ramjas College ground since he was teenager.

He did speak to Ishant and gave him advice before he embarked on the tour of England. Sharvan exclaimed that he told him to look at his wrist position which should be very straight. Ishant was also becoming a bit open-chested on his final delivery stride which needed to go back to the old-fashioned side on action in order to generate speed. These are little advice which he suggested Ishant and he believe that Joe Dawes has done a lot of good work with Ishant after the low he hit with Prasad as the coach.

Asked about, what should be the average speed that Ishant needs to maintain, Sharvan said that when Ishant is bowling between 135-140 kmph, he does a good job and it is perfect for him. Hitting the right length at that speed will be rewarding for Ishant on all kinds of surfaces. Also in England, he has not drifted too often spraying the ball all over. Again, it is all about correction of action. He will only get better and understand more as the series goes on.

The veteran coach also said that he has instructed Ishant that he should be happy with what he has got and needs to better his performance. There are times when Ishant feels bad about not being picked for one dayers but Sharvan stated that he always tell him to look at the positive side that he is India’s spearhead in Test matches. Also the snub that Ishant got in this year’s IPL where Sunrisers Hyderabad didn’t play him in most of the matches spurred him to do well and show that he still had great pace and length in his bowling. Ishant is an India bowler and he should feel the urge to show people how good he is when he is ignored and by saying this Sharvan concluded.