Ishant Sharma believes his strength lies in Tests

Indian speedster Ishant Sharma who is gearing up for the upcoming Test series against the West Indies believes the five-day cricket is his strength. Ishant is the most-experienced fast bowler that India have in their 17-member Test squad captained by ace batsman Virat Kohli. However, Ishant has struggled to find a place in the shorter formats and did not feature in the squad that was selected for the ICC World Twenty20 (T20I) held in India in March. He did not shy away from accepting that he has not been at his best in the limited-overs format but has been doing reasonably well in Tests. ALSO READ: India ranked No. 2 in ICC Test rankings

“You have to be honest with yourself,  that is the most important thing. If you are being honest with yourself It is easy to accept things. I know that I did not do well in the shorter formats of the game, so I accepted it. But I am doing well in Test cricket so I know what my strength is”, confessed the pacer.

The lanky pacer also said switching from one format to the other in a short span of time has made life more difficult for bowlers.

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“If you are playing all formats of the game, it’s very difficult to think what is going wrong for you and what is going right for you. It is very difficult as you have  very short time to understand all these things. I know I did not do well in T20s. I think everybody has their strengths. I always believe in that, and there is no harm to accept that thing.” ALSO READ: Tendulkar: Kumble will teach India to ‘win big moments’

The last time Ishant was in West Indies was in 2011 and bagged a total of 22 wickets from three Tests. He said he is sharing his experience with the other youngsters in the team but insisted there was a need of two-way communication between them.

“I am sharing my experiences and hoping that what worked for me also works for them. But then they have to also identify their areas of strength because everybody has their own strengths. Bhuvi’s (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) strength is swing but he can’t extract the bounce like I can do. Similarly, I can not get the ball to swing like him.”

The 27-year-old added even though the pitches are lifeless he would go flat out everytime he would have the leather in his hands.

“You have to work hard enough even if conditions are not favourable. It is easy to give up and say there is nothing in the wicket so spinners will do the job and we (pacers) will only try to hit the areas.  But you should back yourself and go flat out. I like to go flat out whether it is my second or third spell. If I am playing I give my 100%. That makes me a different bowler”, told Ishant.

“The conditions are very challenging. It is pretty hot out there, so you need to look after yourself properly. And obviously the time difference, it is totally a different time zone and you need to be mindful of that as well, especially when you are playing four Test matches”, concluded the senior most pacer from the Indian camp.