Veteran Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma has blasted the current practice of workload management for pacers in the Indian cricket team. The pacer, who was one of the few Indian pacers to represent India in more than 100 tests, voiced his opinion on the matter which has become a hot topic in Indian cricket.

Ishant advised young, aspiring fast bowlers not to think too much about their workload and instead bowl as much as they can to survive at the international level.

ALSO READ

The Delhi cricketer said that there was no such thing as “workload management” during his time with the Indian team and it was a new term that has come up.

“The only thing I would say right now is: ‘Do not think too much about the workload’. That’s a new term that’s come up in recent times, especially for fast bowlers. I never saw something like that during my international stint.

When I started playing, my coach was an old-fashioned coach who would give me a ball in hand at 1 o’clock in the afternoon and we would go on till sunset. That’s how I could bowl long spells when I made my debut in Ranji Trophy and later on for India. If you want to improve, the only thing you can do is to keep bowling,” Ishant told Sportstar.

Indian fast bowlers had a torrid time in 2022 with injuries ruling them out for most games, which has led to the management adopting a conservative approach.

Jasprit Bumrah had a stress fracture which ruled him out of the Asia Cup and although he returned for a couple of T20Is, his back gave up again and he missed out on the T20 World Cup. Mohammad Shami has also had problems with injuries this year, which meant he could not play too many games in the lead-up to the World Cup and also missed the Bangladesh tour.

Get every cricket update! Follow us on