Childhood coach of Ishant Sharma slams Venkatesh Prasad for bowler's slump during his helm
Ishant Sharma produced his career-best figures of 7 for 74 on the last day of the second Test match against England at Lord’s which helped India script a historic win at the ‘Home of cricket’ after 28 years.
Speaking on his ward’s performance that has seen an upward rise since the South Africa tour last year, his childhood coach Sharvan Kumar blamed former Indian bowling coach – Venkatesh Prasad for his tactics he forced on the bowler – for the fast bowler’s slump in form.
"Ishant is a quick bowler whom Prasad insisted on turning into a line and length bowler. He lost his natural affinity for speed at one point of time. One thing led to other and his action became flawed. The shoulder started dropping and the wrist position also suffered. This caused a drop in pace as well as confidence," said the coach.
On his advice to Ishant for the long tour of England: "I told him to look at his wrist position which should be very straight. He was also becoming a bit open-chested on his final delivery stride which needed to go back to the old-fashioned side on action in order to generate speed.
"These are little things I told him and I believe that Joe Dawes has done a lot of good work with Ishant after the low he hit with Prasad as the coach," Sharvan pointed out. Dawes was appointed as the bowling coach after the 2011/12 tour of Australia. He also revealed that Ishant wanted to excel in all formats of the game.
"There are times when he feels bad about not being picked for one dayers but I tell him to look at the positive side that he is India's spearhead in Test matches.
"Also the snub that he got in this year's IPL where Sunrisers Hyderabad didn't play him in most of the matches spurred him to do well. He is an India bowler and he should feel the urge to show people how good he is when he is ignored," the man who fine tuned Ishant Sharma in his teens at the Ramjas College ground at Patel Nagar, Delhi stated. The right-arm pacer played just three matches for his IPL franchise last season.
The 25-year-old seamer has captured 30 wickets in his last 6 Test matches starting from the Johannesburg Test against South Africa last December. The Delhi lad now has 3 five-for in his last 4 Tests compared to 3 in 53 before.
"You can't deny that consistency has been a big problem for Ishant. Hopefully, this will be the series that will make him a better bowler. He got a flak for his inconsistency and it was justified. Or else, he wouldn't have been able to correct his flaws and come back stronger," the coach mentioned the positive side of criticism he has faced for not living up the promise he shown in his first two years in international cricket.
"When he is bowling between 135-140 kmph, he does a good job. Hitting the right length at that speed will be rewarding for him on all kinds of surfaces. Also in England, he has not drifted too often spraying the ball all over. Again, it is all about correction of action. He will only get better,” he added on his bowling speed.