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ShareNew Delhi: Pace bowler Ishant Sharma is least worried about who he will share the new ball with in the upcoming Twenty20 World Championship in England. Instead of pondering over Zaheer Khan's shoulder injury that has put the pace spearhead's participation in doubt, Ishant said he would much rather focus on preparing for the challenge of defending the title.
"Zaheer will be no doubt be missed if he is unable to make it, but there will be enough people around to guide me just in case I need help," said Ishant, who tasted reasonable success in the recent Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa with 11 wickets for wooden spooners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
"Like South Africa, there will be some life in the pitches there. However, the length that you need to bowl will be different because the ball swings a lot more. In England, you have to pitch the ball up to take wickets," said Ishant.
"It will be important for us to make most of the practice matches before we go into the tournament," said Ishant, who was not part of the Mahendra Dhoni-led side that triumphed in the first edition of the T20 World Championship in South Africa two years ago.
Ishant conceded that the preparation in the run up to the World Championship had not been ideal for him. "I have never been on the losing side for such a long time and it was the toughest phase of my career," said Ishant about KKR's eight-match losing streak in South Africa.
"It was a learning experience, but it was really odd losing so many close matches. It was something new because I have never been in a similar situation playing cricket at any level," said the Delhi paceman, who is off practice this week.
Asked about the captaincy of Brendon McCullum, who took over from Sourav Ganguly this season, Ishant refused to comment.
"I think the captain is only as good as his team. The fact was that the team did not perform and it did not matter who the captain or coach was at that point in time," said Ishant.
India leave for England from Mumbai in the early hours of Friday and are scheduled to play their opening match against Bangladesh on June 6. Ireland are the third team in Group A of the preliminary league, with the top two teams making it to the Super Eights stage of thetournament that runs from June 5 to 21.
