Interview: Challenge is to keep improving and earn India cap - Ishwar Pandey

Ishwar Pandey

Seamer Ishwar Pandey is riding a wave of success after emerging as one of the finds of the India ‘A’ team’s recent tour of South Africa.

The six foot two inch Madhya Pradesh lad caught the public imagination on the South Africa tour, snaffling 11 wickets in two four-day games and five sticks in two one-dayers against South Africa ‘A’.

“It was really satisfying to perform for my country. But there is plenty of room for improvement. Every day is a learning curve for me and I’m looking to put in the hard yards day in day out. The challenge is to keep improving and earn an India Test cap one day,” Ishwar says in an exclusive interview to Sportskeeda.

Bowling on South African strips must have been a enjoyable experience given its bowler-friendly nature, but the bowler startles us when he reveals the decks over there lacked the usual bite.

“We played on tracks which lacked bounce and seam movement. There were all slow wickets and I had to really to play the waiting game to pick wickets,” he discloses.

A season back, Ishwar was virtually an unknown commodity toiling on the docile tracks of the domestic circuit without really getting noticed.

But a phenomenal bowling effort in the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy season, where he was the top wicket-taker with 48 sticks from 8 games, catapulted him into the limelight and there has been no looking back since then. “Obviously when you fare well in the country’s premier domestic competition, people are going to talk about you. I was pretty chuffed to snare a bucketful of wickets last season and the confidence of that is reflecting in my game. My self-belief has gone up by a few notches,” he quips.

The 24-year-old bowler, who hails from the small township of Rewa, has fully realized the importance of playing against quality opposition to raise the performance bar.

“Performing in Ranji Trophy is one thing and performing on a A’ tour is quite another. The South Africa trip has made me realize where I exactly stand and how I can take it from here,” he says matter-of-factly.

There is a lot of talk in cricket circles about the tireless energy Ishwar possesses, but the gangling bowler knows that hard work is the only passport to a national berth. “The competition for places in the national team is fierce. My job is to improve and consistently perform so that I catch the attention of the selectors. I have to work on my pace, at the moment I bowl in the 130-135 kmph range and need to up it a bit more,” he says.

Fast bowlers are prone to injuries, sometimes career-threatening ones, and Ishwar is doing all he can to skirt them.

“Fast bowling is hard job. It’s really imperative to work out in the gym regularly and stay fit. My job is to play cricket and I can’t complain about it. I have to set a high fitness benchmark and stay injure-free,” he puts forth his thoughts.

A late bloomer, Ishwar took to cricket in standard twelve under the watchful eyes of coach Aril Anthony. “Anthony Sir has been of huge help for me. I’m really grateful to him for shaping me into a decent cricketer,” he eulogizes his guru.

Ishwar sees Australian speedster Glenn McGrath (who is currently the MRF Pace Foundation director) and South Africa tearaway Dale Steyn as his role-models.

“I have been at MRF Pace Foundation for the past three years and had a chance to interact with Glenn Mcgrath. I told him that I’m his big fan and he just grinned in response. He told me to keeping working hard on my bowling. As for Dale Steyn, I admire the way he gets wickets when his side needs it the most. He’s a terrific bowler,” says Ishwar, who turned out for Pune Warriors in IPL 6.

Ishwar sees Wasim Jaffer as the most difficult batsman to dislodge. “He is mentally very strong and is difficult to prise out. I was really overjoyed when I got his wicket during our Ranji game against Mumbai, where I returned with figures of 6-54 in the first innings – that was my best spell last season.”

His father is a retired Army Subedar. Ishwar has one sister and one brother and wants to do everything possible on the cricket field to keep his family happy.

“Hopefully, I will go on to do more bigger things on the cricket field and make my family proud,” the suave, soft-spoken seamer fires a parting shot.