"Shami tells me he is a year older than me" - Ishant Sharma names long-term fast-bowling prospects for India in Tests
Ishant Sharma has named a few long-term fast-bowling prospects for India in Test cricket. He highlighted that Mohammad Shami needs to be managed properly, considering age is not on his side.
Shami has reportedly been rested for the ongoing multi-format series against the West Indies. India have fielded a relatively inexperienced seam attack for the two-match Test series, with Mohammed Siraj leading the pack.
During a discussion on JioCinema, Ishant was asked to pick the long-term seam-bowling prospects for India in Test cricket, to which he responded with a light-hearted touch:
"(Mohammed) Siraj, (Navdeep) Saini and Mukesh (Kumar). Obviously, it will depend on (Jasprit) Bumrah's fitness. It will be extremely important how you use (Mohammad) Shami because of his age. Shami tells me he is a year older than me. So I am 34, Shami might be 35."
The Indian pacer named Prasidh Krishna as another prospect but acknowledged that his back injury could be a concern:
"After that, Prasidh Krishna looks to be an extremely interesting prospect to me. Obviously, he is coming back from an injury, so (it needs to be seen) how he does in first-class cricket. A lot of things change in your bowling and body after an injury and especially after a back injury."
Krishna has not played any competitive cricket after undergoing back surgery. The Karnataka pacer has picked up 49 wickets in 11 first-class games and has never played for India in the longest format.
"Avesh Khan is one who comes to my mind" - Ishant Sharma on another seam-bowling prospect
While naming Avesh Khan as another option, Ishant Sharma pointed out that the chosen ones' workload needs to be managed:
"These are five and then you will have to see which guys do well in Under-19, Emerging or first-class cricket. Avesh Khan is one who comes to my mind. So these six bowlers, so how you rotate them and manage their workload."
The 105-Test veteran lamented the lack of first-class cricket being played by the seam bowlers, saying:
"The worst thing is that our bowlers don't play first-class cricket. If you are playing in first-class cricket and performing, it means you are coming from the grind. The biggest examples we saw just now are Yashasvi Jaiswal and Mukesh Kumar."
Ishant concluded by pointing out that first-class cricket helps the bowlers develop the habit of bowling long spells and on different types of wickets. He added that he is not asking the players in contention to play all first-class games but at least half of them.