New Delhi, Mar 21: India's pace spearhead Ishant Sharma says he has been assigned to play a defensive role with the new ball considering swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar's ability to strike early blows.
Ishant felt he is a completely different bowler compared to his new ball partner as they have different skill sets.
“My bowling is different from Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar's nickname). He is more effective with the new ball as he can get a lot of swing. I don't get a lot of swing with the new ball in Indian conditions. So I need to wait for the ball to get old so that I can get some reverse swing,” Ishant said.
“Till the time the ball gets old, I have to play the defensive role of trying to contain the batsmen. Everyone has been assigned a specific role and we perform our roles accordingly,” Ishant told reporters on the eve of the fourth and final cricket Test against Australia.
In the absence of India's best exponent of reverse swing Zaheer Khan, Ishant is the senior most pacer and he explained as to why he is more effective with the old ball.
“If you watch a Test match in India, during the initial stages, it's not favourable for swing bowling and you need to play a defensive game. Once the ball starts reversing, you can then set attacking fields but it's more important to know when to attack on sub-continental tracks.”
Ishant said he got to bowl more overs in Mohali, which was the reason for tasting a bit of success during the third Test.
“In the first two matches, the spinners got almost all the wickets and I didn't bowl much. It was only in Mohali that I got to bowl 30 overs. Before that my job was to contain the batsmen and let the spinners attack.
“Bowling is also like batting. You hunt as a pack. Just like you need a good partnership while batting, it's the same with bowling. If you are bowling well, even if you don't get a wicket, it might help your bowling partner get wickets from the other end.”
