Sandeep Sharma Interview: "I have been approached by quite a few IPL teams"

Sandeep Sharma is a gifted bowler, and has mastered bowling in the death overs. This young lad from Patiala, Punjab took 12 wickets in six matches, including 4 in the Under-19 World Cup final Down Under. He also won the Man of the Match award for his effort. Sandeep, a number ten batsman, along with Harmeet Singh, battled for seven overs to score the last ten runs against arch-rivals Pakistan for a thrilling one-wicket win in the World Cup quarterfinal.

In the Ranji Trophy this season, he picked 41 wickets including a ten-wicket haul against Saurashtra. His efforts have been recognised by BCCI, who have called him up for a two-day camp in Bangalore which will be looked into by the Indian national side’s support staff, including Duncan Fletcher, in presence of the Indian selectors chairman Sandeep Patil.

In a candid chat with Sportskeeda, the 19-year-old Sandeep Sharma speaks of his game and more…

Excerpts:

Disappointed with the exit from the Ranji Trophy semis?

Yes. The whole team is disappointed, especially because we know we are a much better side than Saurashthra, and losing to them was bad. We didn’t do well as a team.

You must be all the more disappointed with your own performance, because earlier when your team played Saurashtra in the League stage, you had picked up a ten-wicket haul (7/25, 3/57)?

I was extremely unhappy about my performance. I was not satisfied. I actually was very sick during that match, vomited 5-6 times during the game and couldn’t even play the second innings. It was a bad outing for me, but that’s not an excuse. I could have done better, I know it. We missed a great opportunity.

You’ve had a good season otherwise, right? Your bowling figures have improved…

Yes, I got about 41 wickets this season and I think it’s good, but I can do a lot better. I need to work a lot more on my pace.

Every time your name props up, people tend to make an instant connection with Praveen Kumar. What’s that all about?

Actually, I have nothing to do with it. I have never spoken about Praveen Kumar or ever said that I idolise him or anything of that sort. It’s just that a few of them think that I bowl like him. People just make a comparison, and that’s all.

Who do you idolise then?

I really look up to James Anderson. He has the pace and he swings it amazingly well. I bowl at 125 kmph and try and swing the ball quite a bit, but it makes a huge difference when you bowl at 145 kmph or 140 kmph and get the ball to swing. I’d like to bowl like him.

It’s an observation that youngster when they make it to the Indian team, they tend to have great speed, but after a little while they fizzle out. It’s quite obvious that the natural pace is comprised in order to get the right technique, the right run-up and so on. What is your take on this? Did you sort of feel such a pressure when you played the U-19 World Cup?

Actually, I think while playing for India, there is just so much cricket the team plays with hardly any rest. There’s too little break between series and the same bowlers are expected to deliver in all formats. Maybe that’s why the pace reduces. This is just my opinion. Look, in junior cricket a bowler would play about 10-15 matches through the year. That’s very little preparation before making it to the international stage.

I really hope and feel that there must be some sort of a rotation policy so that a bowler gets enough rest. England and Australia follow it I hope India would too someday.

Since you are aware of the Indian scenario, and knowing that introducing rotation for bowlers is a distant dream, how are you preparing yourself to make it to the big stage?

It is in my mind that it will only get tougher as an Indian team player. That’s why it’s important for me to work that much more on my fitness. I take my schedule from Sudarshan from NCA, he is the head trainer and then I work a lot with my bowling coach Bharath Arun. I am getting my body used to the rigors and working on fitness. Like I told you earlier, my ultimate priority is to increase my pace.

How did cricket happen to you?

Back in school, I was playing for the school team. My coach Munish Bali, who is the fielding coach for Indian women’s team, asked me to concentrate more on bowling than batting. I was picked for the Punjab U-15 team and then the next year I played the All India U-16 for Punjab, in which I was the highest wicket taker. It was then that I played the first U-19 World Cup in 2010 and then made it to the U-19 World Cup last year too.

There’s so much written about your quarterfinal match against Pakistan in the World Cup where you guys had to score 10 runs with just a wicket remaining…

(Laughs, recollecting the match) Seriously, that was one hell of a match. I still get shivers thinking about the game. I think that was my life’s biggest pressure situation.

What about playing in the IPL this year?

I have been approached by quite a few teams, but I am so confused. I am not sure which team I have to sign with yet.