Don't think too much about the workload, that's a new term that's come up in recent times: Ishant Sharma

Veteran pacer Ishant Sharma has not been in the Indian team management’s scheme of things for Test selections for over a year. But he has made it clear that the term ‘workload management’ should never really exist and there used to be no such thing during his heydays.

Ishant who had made his international debut against Bangladesh in May 2007 aged 18 years of age reckons that more the pacers keep bowling the more are their chances of staying injury-free. However, over the last few months, emergence of pacers like Mohammed Siraj has led to him going down in the pecking order.

I never saw something like that during my international stint: Ishant Sharma

"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 the 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.

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah suffered a back injury which eventually went on to rule him out of the Asia Cup as well as the T20 World Cup 2022. Mohammed Shami ended up missing the ongoing Bangladesh series after sustaining a hand injury while bowling all-rounder Deepak Chahar has been injury-prone throughout this year.

Nonetheless, Ishant who is tirelessly toiling hard from his end in the domestic circuit for making a comeback into the Indian Test team has said that this concept of workload management and breaks is something that needs to be looked upon.

"I think if you have made your name through domestic cricket, you should not be selective about playing games thereafter. If you want to play domestic cricket, nobody can stop you. Only when you have played a sizable amount of cricket for the country can you be given a break at times. Most pacers break down during Ranji Trophy games because they don't go through the ideal preparation," the tall pacer added.