I have regained my rhythm: Ishant

Having engineered an England collapse in the first cricket Test with one of his best spells in recent times, lanky Indian speedster Ishant Sharma said that he felt like having got his rhythm back.

“I struggled with my rhythm in the two practice matches. These things happen when you haven’t been playing cricket for too long. I didn’t play much cricket before that and even in IPL, I played a very few games,” Ishant said at the post-match press conference.

“I was bowling in the nets a lot but bowling in the middle is different. Now I am feeling a lot better and feel in rhythm, so I think I am bowling well,” said Ishant whose three-wicket burst in the post-lunch session suddenly put India in the driver’s seat.

Himself running through the England top-order, Ishant was full of praise for young pace colleague Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/61), who ran through lower middle-order.

“Bhuvi is a tremendous bowler. He used the conditions very well and bowled within his limitations. He knows that he can use the new ball well and he did just that, and he is a clever bowler. We have been talking and chatting quite a lot while bowling together, so I am enjoying bowling with him,” he said.

Asked if he was giving Bhuvneshwar and others advice as the senior-most bowler, Ishant said, “I am not the leader of this attack. I don’t think about such things. All of us bowlers are of the same age. If at all, sometimes I share my experiences of past matches because I have played quite a few, but there’s nothing like the leader of the attack.