Ishant Sharma burst onto the scene and famously gave nightmares to the likes of Ricky Ponting with his brisk bowling. Those days have now passed but in his act of resurrection, he is not looking beyond himself.
When the fast bowler lost his touch, the advice started pouring in from various corners. Every former fast bowler had something to tell the lanky Delhi bowler. But the 21-year-old seems to have figured out how to avoid getting confused with the overdose of advice.
“I think I have worked under so many coaches, but I can’t follow everyone’s advice. I have to choose whatever I think is essential for my bowling,” Ishant said at a promotional event here on Wednesday. Citing an instance, Ishant spelt out how Wasim Akram, who worked with Ishant’s IPL franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, as bowling consultant for IPL-III earlier this year. “He told me to how to bowl outswingers. I had never bowled an outswinger in my life till he told me how to bowl it. He never told me things that he never did in his life. He always wanted me to be a good thinking fast bowler.”
Though Ishant has been able to maintain his place in the longer version, he has been sidelined for the shorter version for six months now. But the youngster didn’t fear being tagged a Test specialist. “If that was the case then I would not have played IPL nor would have been the part of the one-day team for 40-odd ODIs,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Though Ishant has been able to maintain his place in the longer version, he has been sidelined for the shorter version for six months now. But the youngster didn’t fear being tagged a Test specialist. “If that was the case then I would not have played IPL nor would have been the part of the one-day team for 40-odd ODIs,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}But having lost out on his rhythm and place in India’s side for the shorter versions, Ishant admitted this was one of “the most difficult phases” of his career thus far. “But it is important to rise from it,” he said. “I have senior players like Virubhai (Sehwag) and Yuvi (Yuvraj) who keep on telling me that I have the potential but I have to push myself when it comes to training and self-motivation.”