India and Delhi Capitals’ pacer, Ishant Sharma has recently revealed Jasprit Bumrah’s advice of 2018 that helped him a lot.
In the ongoing IPL season, Ishant Sharma looked in quite good form for Delhi Capitals as he picked up 10 wickets from eight games.
Additionally, he also had an average of 20.60 and an economy rate of 8.24 which is by far the best for him this season.
Moreover, he was also given the Player of the Match award for his brilliant spell of 2/19 off four overs that helped DC to stop KKR at 127.
DC ended up winning that game by four wickets and also kept their playoff hopes alive. But, sadly that is all over now.
Meanwhile, Ishant has picked up quite a few tricks for his bowling and trains hard every day, and has adapted himself well to changing demands of cricket.
This season, he impressed one and all with his latest delivery- the knuckleball. Now, Ishant has finally lifted the curtain on how he developed that delivery.
It all started in 2018 when he asked Jasprit Bumrah about his bowling in the T20 format. That’s when Bumrah’s advice changed his life for the better.
Says Ishant,
I asked Jasprit Bumrah what he thought about my bowling in T20s during the Melbourne Test in 2018. He told me that I have a brilliant length, but I need to develop a slow seam delivery, which would deceive a batter. So thereafter, I worked on delivering the knuckleball.
That same delivery was used to outfox Vijay Shankar in the 44th match of the ongoing IPL where Ishant destroyed his stumps.
Moreover, commentator Harsha Bhogle was all praise for Ishant and said that he’s been watching that delivery on a loop.
Ishant finished his four-over spell with 2/23 which was a brilliant bowling effort from him.
Ishant says passion and love for cricket made him train every day
Last year, Ishant went unsold in the IPL Auction but he didn’t lose heart and kept up his training after some motivation from his wife.
He has also stated that he hasn’t set any high expectations for himself and just wants to keep improving himself.
Adding further, Ishant says,
I’m enjoying my cricket right now. I have not set any expectations for myself and I have nothing to lose. When I went unsold last year, my wife asked me to remind myself why I started playing cricket. Then, my love and passion for the game drove me to train really hard. I have also worked with a fast bowling coach and we spoke about the aspects I can improve on.
In last year’s mini-auction, Delhi Capitals finally purchased Ishant for INR 50 lakhs and that reward did give them some fruitful results.
But, even Ishant’s brilliance with the ball couldn’t fetch DC a playoff spot in this year’s IPL.
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