Ishant Sharma needs to step up: Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan

Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan, who has been recovering from an injury sustained during the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League, has called for Ishant Sharma to step up into his shoes and lead the inexperienced bowling attack in the England series, which begins on July 9.

Zaheer managed to surprise the cricketing world by making a comeback to the Indian Test team for the tour to South Africa towards the end of the last year. Subsequently, he did reasonably well in the Test matches in New Zealand, too. Further, his presence helped the youngsters like Mohammed Shami to ease into their roles.

However, at 35, it seems like his international career has come to an end with the latest injury he sustained during his stint with Mumbai Indians. Also, he hasn’t been in the limited overs set-up for quite sometime now.

When asked about the Indian pace attack, which looks very thin on experience, he said: “It is Ishant who has played the most number of matches and he has been around for a while. It is time he steps into that role. For Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) and (Mohammed) Shami, it is their first (England) tour so they will look to Ishant and (bowling coach) Joe Dawes for inputs to perform in those conditions.”

While Ishant 164 wickets in 55 Test matches, they have come at a dismal average of 37.56. The 25-year-old’s inconsistency has troubled him, and he has only gone down ever since his spectacular overseas debut against Australia in 2008.

Balanced bowling attack and India’s pace options:

Lavishing praises on Shami, who at 24 seems to have taken to international cricket like a fish to water, he said: “I was also impressed by someone like Mohammed Shami, who was able to perform the pace bowler's role very nicely. For a successful bowling unit you require a good fast bowler with very good pace and Shami has that. And that helped me cope with my workload.”

The left-arm pacer, who has 610 international scalps for India, also stressed on the need for a balanced bowling attack. He said, “You do need a balanced bowling attack. You can't have bowlers with similar styles. It was a perfect combination we had, I felt. Ishant, being a very tall guy, adds that extra bounce on helpful pitches. If conditions are suitable for swing, I come in and also bring the experience.”

Apart from Ishant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shami, who are most likely to be the first-choice pacers, India also have the likes of Varun Aaron, Pankaj Singh and Ishwar Pandey. If the Indian captain MS Dhoni chooses to go in with 4 pacers, we would most likely see either Pankaj or Ishwar getting the nod ahead of Aaron, as they have a better control and can swing the ball.

Aaron is raw and doesn’t have much to offer for the longer format except his pace, while Pankaj Singh can extract extra bounce and move the ball around at the same time. Ishwar is one of India’s best bets with the new ball on these conditions.