Ankle 'perfect' after injection - Ishant

Ishant Sharma, the India fast bowler, has said the problem with his ankle has gone away and that he will consider undergoing surgery only if it troubled him again. It was initially reported that Ishant had delayed ankle surgery, which was considered necessary, to tour Australia but later reports suggested he might not need surgery at all.

During the first week in Australia, however, the ankle began to trouble Ishant. He had to take a cortisone shot, after which he has bowled long spells at speeds perhaps faster than he has bowled in the past. The wickets might not have come, but Ishant's fitness hasn't been a worry in the series. He is not a part of India's ODI squad for the tri-series involving Australia and Sri Lanka.

"Right now my ankle is fine," Ishant said after the second day of the Adelaide Test. "After the injection in Canberra, my ankle is perfect. So maybe when it is going to pain, then we will see."

The fitness, though, hasn't helped Ishant get wickets on this tour. He has only four at an average of 106. At times he was desperately unlucky, at times he strayed a bit, and he also dropped two catches off his own bowling. There have been suggestions that the lack of wickets might have to do with more than just luck, and that Ishant needs to bowl a little fuller.

"I know what is good for me," Ishant said. "I think I vary my length. It is working for me. I will keep working on my natural thing."

When asked what his natural length was, and whether it helped him utilise the conditions to the fullest, Ishant said: "I think it depends. If I am bowling first change, the ball is not in a good state to swing it. It's just the time you need to keep your patience and bowl in the right areas."

Ishant's spirit can't be questioned. He runs in hard every day, and nothing suggests there is any place he'd rather be, even if the opposition is amassing runs. "When we choose fast bowling, we know it is the tough thing to do," Ishant said. "When you are bowling on the flat tracks in India, when you don't get anything from those tracks, obviously there is a motivation of playing for the country. That's the most important thing for me, running in and bowling hard for the country."

Ishant was asked if India's bowling coach Eric Simons was the right man for him, considering he doesn't seem to have developed as fast as a bowler should. "Obviously he is a nice coach," Ishant said. "We have a good combination, him and me. We talk a lot about my bowling and everything. Not only me, everyone. He doesn't want to change my natural game much. If you change much about my bowling… I was dropped from the side [during the time he tried to copy Zaheer Khan]. That's going to happen again. So don't want to change much."