Former South African bowler reveals formula to turn around Ishant Sharma's career

Ishant Sharma burst onto the scene with one of the best spells ever bowled by an Indian, overseas. Pace, height and movement off the pitch were the attributes which made pundits all over the world, stand up and notice. However, like most Indian pace bowlers, Ishant’s graph has plummeted sharply, and at an alarming rate.

The dreaded over against Faulkner proved to be the last straw, which eventually saw him make way for the talented swinger – Mohammed Shami. Amidst many theories for his sudden fall from grace, former South African quick, Fanie de Villiers has his own.

He said, “Firstly, he needs to cut his hair. He doesn’t look like a sportsperson to me”

“I have seen too many sportsmen not make it at the highest level because of outside factors. Kambli (Vinod) is a good example… rings, earrings, chains etc. It took his focus away. Image was his problem. The game is already too hard. Ishant-like characters are not the most teachable of people. They are normally not the best team men too. It’s these kind of individuals that give a team a bad name or image.”

He goes on to stress on the fact that Ishant needs to have an image makeover and stay within the normalcy of cricket.

“The moment your image is more important than the game, you will fall that low in the rankings. You will never be in the top four or five bowlers in the world. Look at the best bowlers in the world. They are normal people.”

Whether he has a haircut or slogs it out in the nets, only he can turn his fortunes around. A good performance for his Ranji side, Delhi has earned him yet another call up to the Indian test team to South Africa.

If he does get a chance to play, the fast, bouncy wickets of South Africa will assist him, and he will have no more excuses. No better opportunity to silence his critics.