'Ishant Sharma needs to focus on his skill and getting the batsman out, rather than getting over-aggressive'

Former India speedster Venkatesh Prasad fails to understand why Ishant Sharma is still learning about his bowling when he should be the undisputed leader of the pace attack.

The pacer regained his mojo in the recent series in Sri Lanka, but his 65-Test career remains a roller coaster ride ever since he made his debut eight years ago.

"I am not able to understand. Having played for so long he is still getting to know about his bowling. He should be spearheading the pace attack for India, without a doubt.

“He not only needs to spearhead the attack consistently, he should pass on the confidence to other fast bowlers in the team," said Prasad, a former bowling coach with the national team.

Ishant has shown sparks of brilliance throughout his career but is far from consistent since bursting on to the scene with a ferocious spell at Perth in January 2008, when India posted a memorable victory Down Under.

Though he has become the fourth Indian pacer to attain the milestone of 200 Test wickets, his average is a modest 36.51. It is a shade better in One-Day Internationals, comprising 106 wickets in 76 games, at 31.25.

"Ishant has been around for a long, long time. With his experience he should play fearlessly. He should have lot of confidence in his ability but that is something I have not seen regularly. When you have played for long you need to show that confidence.

“The other thing is that you need to pass on that confidence to the other bowlers. That is what his role should be," explained Prasad, who represented India in 33 Tests and 161 ODIs.

Talking about what Ishant's role should be in the team, he said: "Wickets is an outcome. I have not seen him bowl with confidence regularly. When he is among wickets, he is confident. That holds true for everyone. But a player like Ishant, who has played so many Test matches, automatically should be showing the confidence in all circumstances and not worry about the wickets."

Ishant did impress with the ball in Sri Lanka, especially in the final Test in Colombo, but what was more talked about was his boorish behaviour through the three-match series.

Prasad is glad that the Delhi pacer is back to bowling well but insists he still needs to do more to be consistently successful.

"He has got to mix it up. His strength is to bowl back of a length and push the batsmen on to the back-foot. But he needs to mix it up by bowling couple of fuller deliveries. There are bowlers who pitch it up often and they need to mix it up by bowling back of length. He needs to get batsmen on the front foot. That will make him even more effective."

Like most experts, Ishant's on-field behaviour that got him a one-Test ban did not go down well even with Prasad.

"You cannot go overboard with aggression, as simple as that. You need to uphold the spirit of the game. You need to follow the code of conduct because a lot of young kids are watching you. Controlled aggression is needed. He needs to focus on his skill, focus on getting the batsman out rather than getting over-aggressive.

“Being a senior with more than 60 Test matches under his belt, he needs to conduct himself properly and be a role model."

Also read:

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- Ishant incident: Why didn't Kohli play mediator?

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