Ishant Sharma is all heart, he runs in every ball, he keeps at it, he turns back, starts again. All effort, no complaints – he has turned a new leaf in his career and is, by all means, India’s leader with the ball. He was exceptional in South Africa, he was relentless in England and then he was at his best in Australia. After a brief break, the fast bowler was all guns blazing in West Indies and now, when the home season is about to commence, he will be Virat Kohli’s bank, more so in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah.
He loves to speak about the process and being the work-horse that he iss, fitness remains one of the key components in his game. In an interview with ESPNCricinfo, he spoke about how he keeps himself sharp during the breaks.
“No treadmill, I run on the ground because you are playing the sport on the ground. Also, it is not about how long I run. It depends on the type of training. If am doing interval training, then I will run 80 metres under 15 seconds, followed by a 15-second break and repeat 15 times. Then I will run 200 metres and walk 100 metres, then run 200 metres again with ten repetitions,” Ishant said.
Ishant confesses that bowling for long hours is not easy and that he has to always looked to build his core strength.
“If I don’t to the gym, I feel empty, as if I have done nothing. If I have four weeks to prepare for a series, then for two weeks I will focus on basic strength: normal squats and exercise that will help build that solid strength. Then I do a lot of running as well, because you are doing the most difficult job in cricket – fast bowling,” the fast-bowler added.
