'Mature' Ishant leading the pack well: Chetan Sharma

Buoyed by the talent in India's fast bowling department, former pacer Chetan Sharma feels Ishant Sharma has matured as a bowler and is leading the pack well.
Ishant, who has been underfire for his lackluster showing in away matches, gave India crucial breakthroughs in the recent two Tests against Sri Lanka and Chetan feels that even a couple of wickets by pacers is a good assist for the spinners on sub-continent turfs.
"Ishant is bowling well. I was in Sri Lanka and I spoke to him for half-an-hour. He sounded a very mature fast bowler. There used to be shy bowlers who used to sneak past their seniors in order to avoid a talk with them, but not Ishant, who comes and speaks to you. And that tells you about his confidence," Chetan told PTI in an interview.

"He understands what he is doing. And he has the backing of a lot of talented youngsters like Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and (Mohammed) Shami is yet to join the squad. I don't think there is a problem in the pace department. If a pacer can pick up 2-3 wickets on the sub-continent tracks then I believe he has done his job," said the cricketer-turned-commentator.
Chetan, 49, who represented India in 23 Tests and 65 ODIs in his decade-long international career between 1984-1994, also believes that in the pace bowling department India will be spoilt for choices in home conditions.

"I think in India, the think-tank will be spoilt for choices. On turning wickets there will be a problem of plenty as we saw it here when Varun (Aaron) played then Umesh was brought in. Ishant has already cemented his place.
"These bowlers have also got the strength to perform on Australian and English wickets. They have the ability, with Umesh bowling at around 145 and Varun also having the pace. It's just a matter of experience and that will certainly come with time. Being with the team makes you learn. Your senior players and coaches talk to you and you gain from their experience, so it's all a learning curve," he said.

Chetan, though, was critical of India's spin force but praised Ravichandran Ashwin. Incidentally Ashwin's bowling figures of 5 for 42 at P Sara Oval, surpassed Chetan's 5 for 118 in September 1985 as the best figures by an Indian bowler in Sri Lanka.