England vs India 2018: Keeping Things Simple Worked for Ishant Sharma - Jason Gillespie

The former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has hailed Ishant Sharma for keeping things simple in the five-match Test series against England so far.

The lanky fast bowler took a five-wicket haul in the 2^nd innings of the Edgbaston Test and almost handed India a sensational victory. However, it wasn’t to be, as the Indian batters couldn’t chase down a target of 183.

Ishant Sharma despite being a veteran cricketer hasn’t been able to produce the performances on a consistent basis. He had a stint with Yorkshire in the County Championship to get used to the English conditions before the Test series. As no one bought him in the IPL Auctions this year, Ishant had the liberty to play in the county season.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire bowling coach Jason Gillespie who had worked with Ishant feels he is in perfect rhythm at the moment. It was the pace of Ishant Sharma’s walk that has convinced Gillespie that everything was clicking for the fast bowler. Ishant Sharma previously had the habit of moving slowly towards his bowling mark after bowling a ball. Jason Gillespie wanted Ishant to change this attitude and look forward with intent for the next delivery.

“Sometimes he would stand there and stare if a decision hasn’t gone his way or he wasn’t happy with the delivery or whatever. He would slowly trudge back. It wasn’t ideal. So I would keep telling him to show some urgency. When he started to do it – that was the turning point for me, not any particular spell in a match,” Gillespie says.

“I would keep telling him to show urgency. In county cricket, you had to bowl 96 overs in a day. So first of all, I had to sort it out in that respect. Secondly, it meant he wasn’t wasting his time thinking about irrelevant stuff.

“Get back to the top of the run-up. Take a breath. Think about what I am looking to achieve with this ball. What would allow me to bowl that particular delivery? Just crack on after that. And Ishant would run in and do that. No trudging, no drifting mentally, just crack on and bowl. It was good to see that he took it on board early and it showed me he cared,” Gillespie said.

One of the reasons behind Ishant’s success in the series has been the length which he has bowled which has been much fuller than his normal ones.

“If only he would pitch it up,’ was the perennial prayer in his early years. The same with Ishant. For 11 years now. It was clear what Ishant needed to do. Sometimes, he can bowl a little bit short and little wide and not test the batsmen’s front foot defence. The length was I think due to bowling a lot in Indian conditions.”

“Even when you are trying to hit the top of the off stump in India, you can hit a back of length because of the (lack of) bounce. The key to bowling in the UK is the length. You have to challenge the stumps. That was what we worked. He needed to get the ball fuller, inviting the batsman to play off the front foot. And get them thinking about looking towards a positive stroke on the front foot. You are then bringing in all sorts of dismissals.”

Ishant and Gillespie used to have coffee and long chats on bowling sitting at the balcony of the pavilion at the cricket ground, as per the veteran pacer.

“I was impressed with his work ethic and attitude. He would ask a lot of questions and was very open to listening and taking in feedback.” Ishant also enjoyed the anonymity that the small town of Hove provided him.

Ishant also worked strenuously in getting control over the ball, and to hold it’s line perfectly.

“We worked on his seam and wrist position at release. The aim was not to get this ball swing in. Have an upright seam, and we talked about adjustments needed and how to keep the wrists and fingers in a particular way. We also talked about how he could use the crease better – create different angles to keep the batsmen guessing.”

Jason Gillespie is of the opinion that Ishant is finally focusing on his strengths and is trying to keep things pretty simple.

“I would say he is now playing to his strengths. Sometimes you end up trying too much. He has cut out all that. He now runs into bowl, thinking about his strengths. That’s the difference really.”