Former Australia pacer and current Sussex coach Jason Gillespie praised Indian pacer Ishant Sharma and also said that he has benefitted in recent years from learning how to create more wicket-taking opportunities. Ishant worked with Gillespie at Sussex in 2018 and said that they both learnt a lot from each other at that time.
“We spoke about a number of things regarding bowling in general when he was at Sussex. I believe we learnt a lot from each other,” Gillespie told the Times of India. “Ishant was keen to explore ways where he could create more wicket-taking opportunities. Things we spoke about included wrist position for swinging and seaming the ball and the best lengths to bowl.”
“We also spoke about bowling over and around the wicket to the left-handlers depending on how much the ball is swinging. Ishant lacked wickets in the early part of his career, but has enjoyed huge success in the last few years,” he said.
Read here: Mayank Agarwal Rewarded For Hard Work, Says Karun Nair
Gillespie further added that the recent successes of Ishant Sharma came down to bowling a fuller length on a constant basis.
“If you look at how Ishant is taking his wickets, he is bowling a fuller length on average. Rather than bowling back of a length, he is bowling about knee roll/top of pad length. Often, when bowlers practise bowling fuller, they can look to put the ball there rather than hit the pitch hard like bowlers do when they bowl back of a length. As a coach sometimes, it is the language you use with players that can help. We spoke about ‘looking to put a dent in the pitch on that fuller length’ as opposed to saying ‘hit the pitch hard’,” he added.
However, he picked up the Indian pace attack is the best in recent times.
“India have a fantastic attack. I think there are some wonderful pace attacks in the world at the moment. I particularly enjoy watching Australia and India’s pace attacks. It’s tough to go past (Mitchell) Starc, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Pat) Cummins in my opinion. However, what I can say is that Bumrah and Shami is one of the most exciting bowling combinations in the world,” he concluded.
