Ishant Sharma's admirable willingness to run-in all day for his captain wasn't developed in a day, or after a period spent training hard in the gym. The habit which he can pride himself on was instilled into him by his childhood coach Shravan Kumar, who not only got him admitted at Ganga International School after matriculation but also oversaw his cricketing progress.
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"I developed bowling long spells at these practice grounds," Ishant told Cricbuzz in an interview, pointing towards the kids training behind him at Shravan Kumar's academy in Delhi. "Sir used to give us bowling at 1pm and tell us to bowl until it's dark. That's where I developed my bowling fitness. The bowling muscles are totally different. Any amount of gym or running is not going to substitute for bowling."
Ishant has now played 97 Tests for India, with nearly 300 wickets, including 11 five-wicket hauls. "When I asked him to bowl for five hours, he never hesitated, never said that he couldn't.. until he played for India," said coach Sharavan, who never believed that his ward should subscribe to some gym culture.
Soon the ability to bowl long spells came to the fore when Ishant bowled what many still consider was the "career-defining" passage of play for him against Ricky Ponting during the 2008 Perth Test.
Ishant was troubling the Aussie great, so as he neared the end of his spell, Virender Sehwag asked him "Ek aurr Karega?" (would you bowl one more) from the slip cordon, to which the youngster said "Haan karunga!!!" (yes, I will). Fuller length ball, Ponting went driving, Rahul Dravid took the edge, and rest, as they say, is history.
But even as late as 2015, Ishant remained only a "workhorse", the "unlucky Ishant", as many would call him, someone who would bowl consistently, keep it there and thereabout, but not get the breakthroughs.
The real turnaround happened as he corrected his wobbly seam position, being able to keep it in control after release and allow himself to gain movement after pitching, which soon gave him the confidence to pitch it further up and the wickets followed.
And then, the county stint for Sussex under the supervision of club's head coach Jason Gillespie two years back allowed Ishant to take his game to another level.
"When you don't get picked in IPL and you're at home and you see your teammates playing cricket for two months, you get mentally tortured," the 31-year-old said. "I decided to play the county instead. People used to keep telling me to bowl fuller but nobody told me how to bowl fuller. The good length deliveries are quicker and you can only develop that through county cricket."
(Inputs from Cricbuzz)
