World Test Championship: Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill Shares Their Views Ahead Of Final Clash Against New Zealand

India and New Zealand are set for the final clash of the two-year-long World Test Championship that will be played at Southampton from June 18-22. This will be the first final in this format and both the teams are training hard to get their hands on the Test Championship mace. India's senior fast bowler Ishant Sharma and young opener Shubman Gill looked super confident before going into the final against the Kiwi side. Ishant pointed out the differences in the processes involved in playing at home and in England during a chat in the Star Sports Cricket Connected show.

“You need to train differently and adapt to the change. In India, you get the reverse swing after some time, but in England, the length is fuller because of the swing. So, you have to adjust to the lengths,” Ishant said.

“It is not easy to force that, and the weather here is cooler, so it takes time to acclimatize to the weather. And the quarantine makes it difficult because you cannot go to the ground, after IPL we were not allowed to go to the grounds and train. The way you train in the gym and the training on the ground is very different, so you have to adjust to that, and it takes time,” he added. 

About the ban on use of saliva on the cricket ball due to the COVID-19 regulations, Ishant said, “I think it is not that difficult. I think the ball will swing even without saliva and somebody needs to take responsibility to maintain the ball. 

“And if the ball is maintained well in these conditions, then it becomes easier for the bowlers to take wickets in these conditions,” he added 

Gill had this to say. “When I toured England with India A and the Under-19 team, everyone asked me to play a certain number of balls if I wanted to score runs. But I feel, your intent to score runs should never go on the back seat and you should look to survive. 

“When you are looking to score runs, the bowlers get to the back foot and you can put some pressure on the bowler. If you are just looking to survive, you tend to get more good balls than you should be getting. I think, at times to survive in England you have to leave the loose balls. So, that was my learning from the India A and Under-19 tour” Gill added.

Topics mentioned in this article

Shubman Gill Ishant Sharma World Test Championship 2021 India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team Cricket