The Australian teams can’t play in India, according to Ishant Sharma. This was a candid reply by the fast bowler when asked about India’s dominance in this series.
“When we went to Australia we struggled a lot and everybody said we can’t play away from home and now you can see that even Australia can’t play here. So the advantage of home conditions is quite big. Our home conditions suit spinners and Australia is weak against spinners, so that has been a big advantage for us,” he said on the eve of the fourth Test.
Sharma was confident that India, who have won the series already, will carry the winning momentum in this Test. “The mood in the camp is good and the confidence of all the players is quite good because we are leading 3-0 against a team like Australia. We have won the matches by a big margin so the confidence of the team is high and we will carry into the Delhi Test,” he warned, adding, “the team was excited to do really well in this Test match also. Hopefully we can continue the form and play the way we have been doing in the last three Test matches.”
The lanky fast bowler believes his role becomes different when he bowls in India. “As you saw in the last three Test matches there was a lot of help for the spinners, so I have got very less bowling. It was only in the last match in Mohali that I got nearly 30 overs but before that I didn’t get much bowling because there was so much help for the spinners.
“I think when you play in India your role is different. Your role is to contain the flow of runs so that the spinners can attack from the other end. You got to hunt in a pack and bowl in partnerships like how you bat in partnerships, similarly you have in bowling. When you bowl in partnerships, you may not get wickets but the bowler at the other end gets wickets.”
Asked how Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is more effective with the new ball, Sharma said that Kumar’s bowling was different from his bowling. “Bhuvi is more effective with the new ball because he can swing it both ways. I don’t get much swing in Indian conditions and I have to wait for the ball to get a bit old so that it reverse swings and only after that I can attack but till then my role is to contain,” he pointed out.
Sharma felt sorry for Shikhar Dhawan who would not play at his home ground because of injury. “I felt bad for Dhawan that after a dream debut he got injured like this. You feel bad as a player, as a team member that he had to miss out after playing such a good innings but this is part and parcel of the game and I am sure he will come back.”
Stressing the importance of winning the series, Sharma said their goal was to become the No. 1 team in the world again. “I think it is very important because every team plays to win. Sometimes you play well and you win but sometimes you play well and yet you don’t end up winning. I think it is important to give your 100 percent and not worry about results. We always try to improve as a team and our goal is to become the No. 1 team again,” he said.