Ishant Sharma regained his mojo in the third ODI of the current South African tour and he has taken his game to a new high in the first Test. He changed the face of the game with his double-wicket over (dismissing Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis) when the hosts looked set to overhaul India’s first-innings total of 280 with ease.
The improvement in the line and length the Indian fast bowlers have bowled in this Test has a lot to do with the guidance of Zaheer Khan. If Ishant feels the Indian pacers are “hunting as a pack of wolves”, it’s because the head of the pack has returned.
"It is nice to see him back in the side,” Ishant said of Zaheer. “The amount of confidence he gives you while you are bowling, telling you where you lack. It's important for fast bowlers to know these things.
"Shami and I are still young and we can't rectify all the mistakes while we are bowling. So his (Zaheer) presence helps us, because he is someone who tells you that if you do this then you are going to get more from this kind of track," said Ishant.
The other reason for Ishant’s resurgence is that after a season of playing second fiddle to the spinners on Indian wickets, he is finally feeling wanted, in the helpful conditions.
“In India, only two fast bowlers operate and there aren't too many overs to bowl because the wickets back home help spinners more. If you look at the way we bowled in England or Australia previously, we didn't bowl badly. There weren't enough runs on the board. Hunting in packs like wolves always helps and that's exactly what has happened here,” Ishant said.
The pacer pointed out the difference in the strategy between the Indians and South African fast bowlers and reasoned why they were more successful than the hosts.
"There was enough assistance in the wicket for our bowling. The South African bowlers bowled outside the off-stump. We bowled into the stumps, because we thought there could be more purchase from the wicket. So we believed in ourselves and stuck to the plan. We bowled into the right areas, and bowled patiently.”
