Is Ishant Sharma's recent success due to Jason Gillespie?

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

It was the pace of Ishant Sharma’s walk that convinced Jason Gillespie that things were clicking for the Indian bowler at Yorkshire. Ishant had this habit of dawdling slowly back to the top of his run up after he had finished bowling a ball.

“Sometimes he would stand there and stare if a decision hasn’t gone his way or he wasn’t happy with the delivery or whatever. He would slowly trudge back. It wasn’t ideal. So I would keep telling him to show some urgency. When he started to do it – that was the turning point for me, not any particular spell in a match,” Gillespie says.

The former Aussie pacer goes on the explain, “I would keep telling him to show urgency. In county cricket, you had to bowl 96 overs in a day. So first of all, I had to sort it out in that respect. Secondly, it meant he wasn’t wasting his time thinking about irrelevant stuff.

“Get back to the top of the run up. Take a breath. Think what I am looking to achieve with this ball. What would allow me to bowl that particular delivery. Just crack on after that. And Ishant would run in and do that. No trudging, no drifting mentally, just crack on and bowl. It was good to see that he took it on board early and it showed me he cared.”

The most important factor in Ishant’s success in this series is the lengths he has pinged: much fuller than his usual self.

It was an angst with the 90’s generation with the other tall Indian bowler Javagal Srinath. ‘If only he would pitch it up,’ was the perennial prayer in his early years. The same with Ishant. For 11 years now.

“It was clear what Ishant needed to do. Sometimes, he can bowl a little bit short and little wide and not test the batsmen’s front foot defence. The length was I think due to bowling a lot in Indian conditions. Even when you are trying to hit the top of the off stump in India, you can hit a back of length because of the (lack of) bounce. The key to bowling in the UK is the length. You have to challenge the stumps. That was what we worked. He needed to get the ball fuller, inviting the batsman to play off the front foot. And get them thinking about looking towards a positive stroke on the front foot. You are then bringing in all sorts of dismissals.”

The two would sit at the balcony of the pavilion at the cricket ground in Brighton Hove and have chats over cups of coffee. “I was impressed with his work ethic and attitude. He would ask a lot of questions and was very open to listening and taking in feedback.” Ishant also enjoyed the anonymity that the small town of Hove provided him.

He would go for walks and to cafes, and he was in good space mentally. He went to the Royal Brighton, with its Indian style minarets and domes, where Indian soldiers are commemorated for fighting for the British empire in the first world war.

Ishant also worked on getting control over the ball that holds its line outside off. “We worked on his seam and wrist position at release. The aim was not to get this ball swing in. Have an upright seam and we talked about adjustments needed and how to keep the wrists and fingers in a particular way. We also talked about how he could use the crease better – create different angles to keep the batsmen guessing.”

Over the years, Ishant has often tried getting his lengths right but something has clicked on this tour more than other time. Gillespie reckons Ishant is finally focussing on his strengths, and is keeping things really simple.

“I would say he is now playing to his strengths. Sometimes you end up trying too much. He has cut out all that. He now runs in to bowl, thinking about his strengths. That’s the difference really.”

[Cricketics]

Which success? He is spray painting in Perth. 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

25 minutes ago, Cricketics said:

Which success? He is spray painting in Perth. 

Ishant Sharma in 2018:

 

Mats

10

 

Inns

18

 

Wkts

33

 

Ave

22.45

 

Eco

2.69

 

SR

50.00

 

[Cricketics]

8 minutes ago, TNAmarkFromIndia said:

Ishant Sharma in 2018:

 

Mats

10

 

Inns

18

 

Wkts

33

 

Ave

22.45

 

Eco

2.69

 

SR

50.00

 

Timing dude, timing of the thread

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

1 hour ago, Cricketics said:

Timing dude, timing of the thread

As if one incomplete innings is going to change what he's done this entire year.

[Laaloo]

7 hours ago, TNAmarkFromIndia said:

As if one incomplete innings is going to change what he's done this entire year.

As if 10 matches is going to change the crap he has done for the last 10 years. It's time to move on. Australia moved on from the likes of siddle ( I know he played against Pakistani but only because there were no other options) even though siddle is way better than useless Sharma. 

[Rasgulla]

No... Its Dhoni

Edited December 14, 2018 by Rasgulla

[putrevus]

Ishant still is unable to become a strike bowler, he is still a bowler who will not be a game changer.Yes He has improved but is it really helping his team win matches.

[sandeep]

22 minutes ago, putrevus said:

Ishant still is unable to become a strike bowler, he is still a bowler who will not be a game changer.Yes He has improved but is it really helping his team win matches.

Not all bowlers can be lead dog.  Ishant is a very capable 3rd seamer now.  One of the best around.  Its not his fault that we can't find another Bumrah, and Shami doesn't want to take that next step.  

[putrevus]

13 minutes ago, sandeep said:

Not all bowlers can be lead dog.  Ishant is a very capable 3rd seamer now.  One of the best around.  Its not his fault that we can't find another Bumrah, and Shami doesn't want to take that next step.  

No one asked him to become lead dog, it took 10 years for him to become a capable third seamer.

[sandeep]

4 minutes ago, putrevus said:

No one asked him to become lead dog, it took 10 years for him to become a capable third seamer.

And?  to some extent, was it his fault that he was thrust into the national team at a young age when he wasn't good enough? I don't think you can blame him for that.  It is what it is.  Forget his past, for the last 2+ years, he's been a very good bowler for the team.  He is what he is.  

 

Problem for some armchair experts is that they often get married to some twisted concept of what they expect/want a player to be, and anything less is seen as not good enough. 

[putrevus]

2 minutes ago, sandeep said:

And?  to some extent, was it his fault that he was thrust into the national team at a young age when he wasn't good enough? I don't think you can blame him for that.  It is what it is.  Forget his past, for the last 2+ years, he's been a very good bowler for the team.  He is what he is.  

 

Problem for some armchair experts is that they often get married to some twisted concept of what they expect/want a player to be, and anything less is seen as not good enough. 

There is no twisted concept here, don't get worked up, you can have only so many bowlers, and India has invested more than 10 years on this guy  to find him be to be at best a third seamer.

 

 

[Global.Baba]

Let us say we drop Ishant and  Shami and Bumrah are your sure starters. Then that leaves us with Bhuvi and Yadav. 2 guys who can’t be relied upon. Bhuvi on non- grassy pitches and Yadav well is unpredictable (predictable in the sense he will screw up 9 out of 10 times)

 

The next option is a rookie fast bowler.

 

All these while assuming Shami will always be a 100% fit.

 

Now tell me why doesnt Ishant deserve a place as a 3rd seamer?

[sandeep]

4 minutes ago, Global.Baba said:

Now tell me why doesnt Ishant deserve a place as a 3rd seamer?

Because putra demans a "strike bowler" in return for his 10 year investment.  Its like investing in the stock market, getting a 10% return but spitting on it because you "wanted" 25%.  

[putrevus]

^^^ Ishant deserves to third seamer but for senior most player who played 81 tests, it is a very poor return and it took Ishant 10 years to be a capable third seamer at best.

 

Why are we assuming that new comers will not be as good as this Ishant. They found Bumrah in a match where they dropped Ishant.So why not give others a chance too.

[sandeep]

1 hour ago, putrevus said:

^^^ Ishant deserves to third seamer but for senior most player who played 81 tests, it is a very poor return and it took Ishant 10 years to be a capable third seamer at best.

 

Why are we assuming that new comers will not be as good as this Ishant. They found Bumrah in a match where they dropped Ishant.So why not give others a chance too.

Because he doesn't deserve to be dropped based on his performances.  Try "new comers" all you want.  No need to play leakers like Umesh in the team.  We had ample chances to try newcomers against WI/Afg, but chose not to.  You are fixated on Ishant for the wrong reasons, at the wrong time.

[putrevus]

4 minutes ago, sandeep said:

Because he doesn't deserve to be dropped based on his performances.  Try "new comers" all you want.  No need to play leakers like Umesh in the team.  We had ample chances to try newcomers against WI/Afg, but chose not to.  You are fixated on Ishant for the wrong reasons, at the wrong time.

I am not fixated on anything, the point is about about Ishant progress, his progress is very poor return for guy who has played 81 tests.

 

I never said Ishant should not be playing this team, don't derive your own conclusions.

[Vilander]

I am sure Jason Gillespie would like to see Ishant do well he might be interested in sharing his experience as well as there are lots of funny similarities between the two ( physical, appearance, pace etc.) Gillespie was a strike bowler in his pomp which Ishant never managed - fist he was zaks understudy and now a sturdy 3rd bowler...

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

On 12/14/2018 at 9:18 AM, Cricketics said:

Timing dude, timing of the thread

Yeh le timing bc. 

[Cricketics]

1 minute ago, TNAmarkFromIndia said:

Yeh le timing bc. 

Bowled shyt today again, just fyi. I am not big fan. In the end closed it out but we had a poor start today.

 

Bumrah and Shami/Umeshs hould have started.

 

Imagine this - Shami, Umesh, ishant are all hitting age of 30 or more. 

 

if you are true India fan, you know its a worry as we only have one young bowler ready to plau test cricket over seas and that is Bumrah. Don’t you think its time to blood other youngsters than play same group of players again who will ofcourse click once in a while after playing tons of games?

 

No one saying to drop all of them. Thing is we need to start rotating at least one youngster so we can have proper transition.