Ishant needs to reassess his training
India's campaign for the ICC Champions Trophy was affected by injuries to their key players, a situation that cannot always be controlled
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
India's campaign for the ICC Champions Trophy was affected by injuries to their key players, a situation that cannot always be controlled. However what can be controlled is the workload. In his column in the Hindustan Times Anil Kumble writes that Ishant Sharma needs to figure out what sort of training best suits his body and find a balance between bowling and other ways of strengthening his body.
Most of the training time is taken up by gym work, which adds strength but you have to include a lot of sprinting as well to ensure that the rhythm is right. The challenge is to get the balance of cricketing skills, strength and cardiovascular training. The skills part is, naturally, most important and it is also necessary to realize that each person is made differently. Which is why it is paramount that one understands the body quickly. Ishant is a young man but he would do well to understand what works best for him and apply that to his bowling and training. He's also a thinking bowler and with the right guidance, he should soon be firing again.
In the Indian Express, Harsha Bhogle writes that Ishant and RP Singh's decline is the most worrying trend for India. Good bowlers bowl well for ten years with the occasional bad period in between, not for two years or a season here and a season there. Could it be too much cricket? Could it too much in the mind? Could it be too little in it?
And in DNA Ayaz Memon writes that among India's one-day problems are the absence of a bowling allrounder, the listless fielding, and the lack of bench strength.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo