'I still want to touch 100mph' - Ishant Sharma

[TaNk]

In an interview to The Indian Express, the lanky Indian seamer speaks about his burning ambition to touch the 100 mph mark, his new role as the first-change bowler and improving his economy rate. Ishant Sharma runs in and bangs it short to team mate Virat Kohli during the nets. On Saturday, playing for ONGC in the in the semi-final of the BCCI's Corporate trophy, he will test Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa with the shorter delivery. In an interview to The Indian Express, the lanky Indian seamer speaks about his burning ambition to touch the 100 mph mark, his new role as the first-change bowler and improving his economy rate. Considering there will be non-stop cricket coming up, how did you spend the off-season? I was training regularly throughout and I am in prime fitness now. I was at the nets with my coach back in Delhi when others were resting, the idea was to ensure my stock deliveries are intact while I gain confidence to bowl more variations. I also had a good four-day session with Team India and the matches in Corporate Trophy will help me build up for the Sri Lanka tri-series and the Champions Trophy. You are being prepared to be the first-change bowler in ODIs. How are you responding to the new task? I have bowled first change before, so it's not new to me but yes, bowling first change is difficult. With the new ball, there's swing as well as bounce off the wicket but when you bowl first change there's just bounce and it gets easier for the batsman. But since I have the height advantage, I can extract bounce off the wicket and am confident of doing justice to my role in the team. The ball gets a bit softer too but I am hoping that I can be as effective as I am with the new ball. After you bowled the fastest delivery by an Indian, you spoke of touching the 100mph mark. Is that still a target? No my idea hasn't changed at all; instead, I am eager to bowl quicker and quicker. I still want to touch 100mph, that's my ambition and there's no getting away from it. I can't tell you when exactly I will breach the barrier; for a bowler it depends on various factors. I am a rhythm bowler, and if you are in good rhythm then forcing the pace is easy. Right now I am feeling good about my bowling, I am a lot sharper and I will be getting quicker this season. You used the yorker to good effect in domestic matches but not at the international level. Why? I am trying to work on death bowling, try and bowl more slower ones and yorkers. And since I have to bowl in the powerplay as first change, the yorker is an absolute must. The problem with bowling a yorker is the margin of error is huge, but I have worked hard on developing the yorker and will use it more this coming season. Despite your attacking role, your economy rate has been a worry. I know I have to work on my economy rate. When you are playing one-dayers, one has to keep watch on it. With the semi-new ball, the first job is to control the runs, and then if the situation demands I can go into the attacking mode. What is your goal for this season? I want to have a year as impactful as my debut season. I am eager to make up for an ordinary last season. Source :- http://cricket.yahoo.com/cricket/interview/interview?post_id=115&title=%27I%20still%20want%20to%20touch%20100mph%27

[Shehezaada]

Sharma....Sharma, let's set some goals man. How about you maintain speeds of 85 mph before wanting to "touch" 100? What's the point of touching (even if you get there), and then breaking down?

[cowboysfan]

how about bowling the correct length in limited overs cricket?.while you are at it learn the art of bowling yorkers,without these Ishant is an average bowler in LOI cricket at best.

[Chandan]

I am eager to bowl quicker and quicker. I still want to touch 100mph, that's my ambition and there's no getting away from it. I can't tell you when exactly I will breach the barrier; for a bowler it depends on various factors. I am a rhythm bowler, and if you are in good rhythm then forcing the pace is easy. Right now I am feeling good about my bowling, I am a lot sharper and I will be getting quicker this season.

Oh really? That is why you were bowling at 125-128ks/hr against AI Red? Indian management will do well to keep Ishant away from ODIs and T20s. He is the only test seamer after Zaheer and I don't want him to follow Pathan, Munaf and Sreesanth.

[rkt.india]

i think sudeep tyagi has been the fastest bowler on show in Corporate cup bowling around 139 mark, as far as some new faces are concerned like PK Dharma and Vikram Dahiya from MRF, there games have not been covered live, they both did well too..........

[Sooda]

I dont think its a bad thing that he wants to be genuinely quick. Very noble but really he will not get 90+ even on a consistent basis- he dosent really have the build or the action. He is a swing bowler- potentially a very good one and should focus on his line and length first. Id agree with getting IS (and even Zak) to retire from ODIs and T20 (at least only from T20s)- tests are always priority, hes a good test bowler lets keep it that way. Between Munaf, Praveen, RPS possibly Sreesanth and Irfan if they regain any kind of form and if we rope in Tyagi. Its A decent if not exceptional pace attack. That will never happen though I hope theyre a bit more judicious about how many matches he playes- like the series vs Aus in Oct- PLEASE do not play ALL 7 matches Ishant.

[Sachinism]

Sharma wants to bowl 100mph :hysterical::hysterical:

[Lord]

he should remain Ishant Sharma n not ttry to be Atul Sharma.first try to 90 mph consistently,dude

[rkt.india]

first he needs to work on his fitness and body strength, when we see bowlers like johnson , brett lee, siddle we can actually see the difference between the indian and aussie bowlers, they r so fit, they work hard to get that level and gain strength needed for a fast bowler, u can see the body of mitchell what an ideal body he has made very sleek, strong, and muscular. Look at brett lee, he is coming off an injury at an age of33 and is still bowling at 150 K mark, unbelievable stuff, where our bowlers loose pace at an age of 25-26. Its about maintaining the fitness level

[zubinpepsi]

:hysterical::hysterical: Ishant u just need to shut ur fkin mouth and bowl n try to take some wkts....

[Malcolm Merlyn]

1st Try Bowling90mph Continously

[Desi Cartman]

Had he said "I dont think I should try to bowl faster" then you all would have said "Oh he has the Venky effect" and now he just replied to a question and said that he still wants to bowl fast and again fans have a problem. He did mention that he is working on yorkers , economy rate ...... aur kya jaan logay bachay ki ..

[Sachinism]

Had he said "I dont think I should try to bowl faster" then you all would have said "Oh he has the Venky effect" and now he just replied to a question and said that he still wants to bowl fast and again fans have a problem. He did mention that he is working on yorkers , economy rate ...... aur kya jaan logay bachay ki ..

Bowling faster and bowling at 100mph are 2 very different things

[Lord]

Had he said "I dont think I should try to bowl faster" then you all would have said "Oh he has the Venky effect" and now he just replied to a question and said that he still wants to bowl fast and again fans have a problem. He did mention that he is working on yorkers , economy rate ...... aur kya jaan logay bachay ki ..

nobody has prblemms with him trying to bowl fast but 100 mph?hes not even 90 mph consistently.he should realistic goals.i dont think hes gonna ever bowl 100 mph,so wats the point in saying it

[Show_stopper]

I don't really trust the speed guns they are using in the Corproate Trophy..some of his deliveries looked very quick..more so than Tyagi's. In particular the delivery to Yuvraj was impressive. He is right though when he says he is rhythm bowler..he can be really scatter throughout the pitch at times. Lets just give him some time..he has impressed the most among he bowlers who have come into the team in the last 5 years. Has to be said though..100 MPH seems out of his range.

[Deleted_User_1]

Abe saale, try bowling 85+ consistently, then 90+ consistently. Then we will talk.

[rkt.india]

any bowler's body gets maximum strength around 25 until then i dont think any bowler can bowl 100 MPH, first he needs to bowl at an average speed of 88 MPH. This is the average speed most of the quick bowlers bowl right now, if u can bowler at that with seam movement at right length and line, you can trouble any batsman.

[hitman1980]

Damn its all abt speed gun tampering .. U think tht stuart broad can bowl over 90mph ... His bowling looks so slow ... even tht onion etc were getting in range of 85-87mph on speed gun ... All fake ... Let them play against India and then see their correct speed Regarding Ishant he just need concede lesser runs and increase some speed .. anything in range of 90mph should b good for him... forget abt 100mph for now

[rkt.india]

Damn its all abt speed gun tampering .. U think tht stuart broad can bowl over 90mph ... His bowling looks so slow ... even tht onion etc were getting in range of 85-87mph on speed gun ... All fake ... Let them play against India and then see their correct speed Regarding Ishant he just need concede lesser runs and increase some speed .. anything in range of 90mph should b good for him... forget abt 100mph for now

no onion bowls at that pace even in domestic, remember india tour to England, practice game where he troubled all the Indian batsmen and took 5-fer. He is a very good bowler and we need to accept that they Stuart Broad was bowling in 90MPh, why u forget the England tour to India, he was then too bowling in 140s along with Flintoff who was very quick and troubled every batsmen. Stuart Broad was bowling quicker than Ishant in that series. How they English bowlers do speed gun tampering, while the Australians were bowling in their normal speed range as they bowled on SA tour and back home when SA toured Australia. Broad is a very tall man 6 feet 6 inch and pitches were too slow in England thats why his deiliveries were not looking quick, any tall bowler's deliveries will look slower than a short man deliveries like Siddle who is around 6 feet.

[Ram]

I still want to touch 100mph, that's my ambition and there's no getting away from it.

Maybe he plans to buy a very fast sports car? :hmmm: There is no way Ishant is ever touching 100 mph. At best, he can be in the 86-88 mph bracket, with the odd one over 90 mph. Unfortunately, those ‘Made in Taiwan’ speed guns that they used the CB series in 2008 when he clocked those 150 kph thunderbolts, raised all our expectation levels beyond the realms of possibility.