Thing is, you're saying the short stuff wasn't quick - you're right and it clearly wasn't as good a spell as Mitch's in Australia, but the point of the bowling wasn't to be quick. The reason they used the short ball tactic, and also the reason they didn't take the new ball when it was available, was because the pitch became two-paced and it became tricky to score off the short ball if it was bowled decently with the old ball. Ishant and Dhoni explained that short bowling with the new ball would have had predictable bounce and been easy to score of.The thing that amazed me about the tactic was the lack of variety. There wasn't a single yorker bowled in the whole spell. As Shami was bowling his first ball to Prior in the over after lunch I thought "inswinging yorker will probably do the job here", but instead he served up a wide long hop. England struggled against short stuff in Australia, but as well as facing something considerably quicker there, they couldn't just hang back and play for a bouncer as then they'd be in no shape to defend one that could bowl them, and Johnson was constantly threatening the stumps. With Ishant's spell the batsmen might as well have taken a step back towards third slip with their bat above their shoulders before he got to the crease - they might then have been able to keep the shots down...
In short Ishant has natural talent but no brains to utilize it. Which is what everybody has been saying for some time. His talent becomes useless if he can't use his brain. Sami has all the ingredients to be successful as well but suffers from a similar brainlessness (much worse case is Sami)You either need late movement or pace to make it a threatening option against most quality batsman these days. In earlier eras you'd find yorkers were far more effective because batsmen didn't get straight onto the front hoof as soon as they could because they were worried about copping it in the teeth.
You look at some of the greatest bats of the last era, GIlchrist comes to mind as a guy that just couldn't deal with a tall quick banging it in short of a length at him on a pitch with variable bounce. The thing I've always liked about Ishant is he does generate quite a bit of energy through the ball which is perfect for conditions like you find in NZ and England, it's why I felt he'd perform during this series. The thing I don't like about him is that he doesn't have the accuracy nor planning skills that a bowler of his experience should have, but if Dhoni is willing to step up and manage him more, then I don't see any reason the guy can't go from his horrible average and bring it down towards 30. He's only 25.
I think his potential is higher than Shami or Bhuv - yes, I know he's had a tonne of chances to show that potential, but I'd be really interested to see his results if you got him in with a good bowling coach who also emphasised the planning and strategy, if India could get McGrath to do some sessions with him, I think that would be ideal.
The guy is speaking rubbish to gain attention. He did it before aswell.
Hook, line and sinkerOnly Ishant actually has the same physical tools that McGrath had... unlike Sodhi who has no accuracy, gets hardly any dip and swerve and is absolute rubbish at all forms of the game, including club cricket.
Just because you were baiting and attempting to fish doesn't mean I won't reply with the absolute realities of Sodhi being utterly ****.Hook, line and sinker
and the vast majority of people will disagree with you, even if none of us think hes much good.Just because you were baiting and attempting to fish doesn't mean I won't reply with the absolute realities of Sodhi being utterly ****.
Actually the vast majority in here agree Sodhi is ****... but great for you pal, you're being a forum troll - you should be proud of yourself.and the vast majority of people will disagree with you, even if none of think hes much good.
Hmmm, well you can't deny that Ishant's action, in particulary his wrist position, didn't go to **** from around 2009 onwards. Whether that's Ishant's fault or the coaches is something that can be debated, but his observation with regards to Ishant's action doing him and his ability to generate pace and movement a disservice is spot on.The guy is speaking rubbish to gain attention. He did it before aswell.
First he says "Ishant is a quick bowler whom Prasad insisted on turning into a line and length bowler"
And then again "Hitting the right length at that speed will be rewarding for him on all kinds of surfaces. "
I don't think Prasad would have told him to bowl slow or not focus on his pace. Even under Joe Dawes, Ishant has been pretty much hit and miss, he still bowls a lot of loose stuff. Prasad has always said good things about Ishant, even when he wasn't doing well, Prasad had said that Ishant works really hard on his game and spends a lot of time on practicing.