I am the same bowler to bowled to Ponting in 2008, says Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma said he has been bowling well since the South Africa series

Having taken consecutive 6-wicket hauls two innings, Ishant Sharma says nothing has changed in his bowling and it’s only because of the wickets he has taken recently that his efforts are being noticed.

After a horrid 2013, Ishant Sharma has found his feet in New Zealand, a country where he has had a good track record. In the first Test at Auckland, Ishant took 6/134 in the first innings, and ended up bagging 9 wickets in the match, though India ended up on the losing side.

“Even in the last presser, I (said I) have been bowling well since South Africa,” he said in a press conference after the day’s end today. “People are just recognising it now because I am taking wickets. I don’t analyse my bowling a lot. At this stage, it is a lot about the mindset, about what you are thinking before the game. I was the same when I bowled to Ponting, I was the same when I got the Man of the Series against West Indies (in 2011), and I am still the same. It’s become more important what people think about.”

For someone with an experience of 54 Tests and 72 ODIs, Ishant has often expressed his desire to lead the Indian bowling attack, but said it’s been frustrating to have been left out of ‘important tours’.

“Only from experience do you learn. I have seen enough ups and downs in my life. When there is an important tour, I always get dropped and when there is an easy tour, then I am there. It’s a very hard thing for me but whatever I do for myself I did. I keep on doing what I can,” he said.

Today, with the pitch helping the seamers, he and Mohammed Shami were the biggest gainers, sharing all 10 Kiwi wickets between them. When asked if lack of wickets from veteran Zaheer Khan was an issue, Ishant replied in negative.

“Everyone bowled in good areas but I got the rewards and so did (Mohammed) Shami. Zak pa was very unlucky that he didn’t get a wicket, got one off a no-ball,” Ishant said.

MS Dhoni‘s impeccable record in this series continued when he called right at the toss for the 7th time in a row. About having the best conditions to bowl in, Ishant said that though they were excited to bowl first, they had learnt not to make the same mistake at Auckland (where NZ were 30/3 at one stage, but ended up scoring 503 in 1st innings), and were more disciplined with their lines and lengths.

“Obviously good to win the toss… spongy bounce, there was some juice and we bowled with great discipline in the morning. In Auckland maybe we got a bit carried away looking at the fresh pitch but second innings in Auckland we learnt that if we bowl with discipline, we will get more rewards. And that’s what we did today, bowled with discipline in the right areas, looked to bowl well rather than take wickets.”

Ishant had another major role to play in the day when he joined Shikhar Dhawan in the middle as nightwatchman at the fall of Cheteshwar Pujara‘s wicket. He stayed firm at the crease for the 16 balls he faced till stumps and said the pitch had eased out for batting.

“Obviously we are very happy with how Shikhar played today. Even Pujara, although he didn’t get many runs, he hung in there for a long time. We will try to get as many runs as we can. Wicket is a bit better now, the ball is coming on to the bat nicely. It was moving around in the morning but for the length I batted, it didn’t move that much. Obviously the new Kookaburra moves a lot more,” he concluded.