Ishant Sharma is a real workhorse: Craig McDermott

Former Australian cricketer Craig McDermott praised the Indian pace bowling spearhead Ishant Sharma for his attitude and hard work. He feels that Ishant’s attitude will give the Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli the edge against the West Indies.

“I like Ishant Sharma. He has been a real workhorse for India. Look at the number of balls he has bowled at such young age (13,419 balls). There are times when he has bowled short as he is a tall guy. If he can hit the right length at that pace of 140-145 kph, he can trouble the West Indies batsmen,” former Australian cricketer McDermott said.

The 51-year old, who was the Australian bowling coach recently said that the other Indian bowler which had impressed him is Varun Aaron, who is currently with the India A team. “I had seen Aaron when he came to Australia last time. He gets some shape with the ball which is a good thing. What I like about India is that they now have five genuine quick bowlers to fall back on,” he said.

“In West Indies, the length will be key as the wickets would not have much bounce. They are playing in Antigua where it will be low bounce. At Kingston in Jamaica, it has become very slow. In St Lucia, I remember Australia playing an ODI where there was a fair bit of bounce. But this Indian attack I feel is well versed,” he added.

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The former Australian also said that it is not hard for the bowlers to switch across different formats of the game as some of the batsmen do. “I think that can’t be an excuse. Doesn’t Virat, Steve Smith play all formats and play successfully. Why can’t bowlers do that? Hitting the channel boils down to practice. Yes, it’s tough being a bowler with bigger bats, flatter pitches and balls not doing much.”

According to McDermott, “Mitchell Starc has developed as a complete bowler in red ball cricket.”

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