Thank God, I don't have to bowl to Sachin: Ishant

Indian paceman Ishant Sharma might have acquired the reputation of bumping off top batsmen like Ricky Ponting but he thanks his stars for not having Sachin Tendulkar as an opponent.

"Sachin Tendulkar is one batsman who is not easy to bowl to. Be it at the nets or in the middle, he always bats as if he is playing a match. I am thankful to God that I play in his team. His experience is equal to my age," Ishant told NDTV.

The gangling Delhi bowler said that besides Tendulkar, Ponting and Hayden were among his favourite batsman. "Other than Sachin and Ponting, my favourite batsmen are Matthew Hayden and Rahul Dravid." 

Ishant said he was not only trying to bowl fast consistently but also focusing on maintaining the right line and length to trap the batsmen.

"I am trying to bowl at 100 mph but what is more important is which areas I hit. If you get that speed but the delivery is short - or over-pitched and the ball goes across the boundary, then there is no use of it. Instead, if I bowl at 140-145 kph and swing it, batsmen could be in trouble," he said.

"I know my limitations and try to be in my limits," he added.

The 20-year-old fast bowler also said he did not believe in experimenting in the match and relies on whatever he practised at the nets. 

"You should try in a match only what you have practised in the nets. You should not try new things straightaway while playing for the country.

"I was not a swing bowler but the one who would hit the deck and even today I try only that, but it is my good luck if the ball gets movement," he said.

Ishant said he could not credit his success to any one person like Zaheer Khan, Venkatesh Prasad or coach Gary Kirsten. All of them helped him on various occasions but singled out the South African for his mature approach.

"Kirsten is a very nice coach. He understands the strengths of each and every member of the team," the pacer said.

"Recently in Delhi, I had dropped Michael Clark and also could not bat as the night-watchman but Kirsten said 'in the last one year this is your first mistake. It was your bad day. Tomorrow will be a new day'. If your coach helps you come out of the bad phase, he is a good coach," he added.

On the series against England, Ishant said, "I will try to repeat the performance that I had exhibited against the Australians when I had picked wickets as required. We will use the reverse swing weapon against England also. We'd used that against the Aussies. You should know how to reverse swing if you are playing in the sub-continent," he said.

"In the sub-continent it is easy to bowl if you know reverse swing, you should know how to adapt to the conditions," he added.