An Interview (with Ian Pont) about mystery Indian pacer Atul Sharma

An Interview (with Ian Pont) about mystery Indian pacer Atul Sharma

by Abdul Habib
11th April 2009


I'd like to thank Ian Pont for taking time out of his busy coaching schedule for this indepth interview! The interview should tell you all you can know about Atul without actually seeing him bowl.

Ian will be releasing a video of Atul bowling on his website MavericksCricket.Com around the time the Royals announce him in their squad.





Abdul Habib: How did you meet Atul Sharma and what sort of bowler was he when you first met him?

Ian Pont: I met Atul for the first time at the county ground in Essex, he'd flown over from Mumbai after asking me if I would have a look at his bowling and let him know what I thought. He'd read my book 'The Fast Bowlers Bible' which came out in 2006 and in December of the same year I was watching him bowl. He was 20 years old at the time and had a front on action, I've got a reasonably accurate speed gun and we clocked him indoors in the 72-75mph range.


Abdul Habib: That doesn't sound too promising, what made you think you had something unique that you could work with?

Ian Pont: His build and his strength. Atul is built like a 100m sprinter and can run in with a fantastic flying (already running) ground speed of 40 yards in 4 seconds. The first thing we identified was that his action needed to be side on instead of front on. Front on bowlers tend to be tall and rangey which Atul wasn't, Atul is around 5'11 so he needed a side on action to let him access his power and strength.


Abdul Habib: How does Atul achieve his pace? Is it sheer strength or is there some element of hyper-extension involved?

Ian Pont: It's not hyper-extension with Atul, his action is based on a stretch reflex. The closest sport we have to cricket in stretch reflex terms is javelin throwing (and to some extent baseball pitching), that's why we've tapped into javelin training in our work with Atul. The basis of a stretch reflex is hip drive into a full arm pull, what we've done is to get him to hold his bowling arm back for as long as possible and then pull it through. If you think of Malinga, Fidel or Thomson they also have a javelin style sling action. Atul gets the same sort of stretch reflex as them.


Abdul Habib: What's unique about Atul's action when compared to Malinga or Fidel because if it was the same then there'd be no need for any secrecy.

Ian Pont: Atul begins running in normally, he turns sideways around 12 metres before the stumps and then he runs in sideways using crossover strides just like a javelin thrower does. If you watch a javelin thrower, they actually accelerate when they turn sideways and there's no jump before the release. Atul doesn't jump at the crease because if you leave the ground when running in then you slow down, Atul just accelerates into his crossover strides and releases the ball with his stretch reflex action when he reaches the crease. Atul is working through his stride patterns, so his run-up is something like 25-30 metres in length with the last 5 or 6 strides being javelin style crossover strides. He is also capable of changing that to suit.


Abdul Habib: You've certainly piqued my interest, I can't wait to see what that looks like in practise.

Ian Pont: The challenge for me was to take the javelin action and have a cricketing delivery at the end of it. That's one of the reasons why he hasn't been bowling in matches, so I don't think we have been deliberately secretive. You couldn't possibly have him playing cricket whilst he was still learning to control where the ball was going. He's now reached a stage where he can bowl in games but two years ago that probably wasn't possible.


Abdul Habib: What's the fastest speed you've ever clocked at Atul at?

Ian Pont: The main problem of working with speed guns is that they needed to be calibrated properly and as I'm sure you know the readings can often vary wildly. I know what speed is, I work with speed guns all the time but I don't always need to look at the digits to see how fast someone is bowling. Sometimes when I'm watching the TV I'll see a blisteringly fast delivery but the speed gun will show something ridiculous like 85mph and I'm left thinking that there's no way on Earth that's correct. Some people who've worked with Atul have said that he's been bowling at around 100mph and in practise conditions in the net (without a batsman) his hand release speed has been clocked as high as 105mph. Now I don't know how his hand release speed will equate to actual match speed because he's never been clocked bowling in a game, he hasn't played a game of cricket for 7 years. He's been out in South Africa for the last 4 months and when I was out there working with him he was bowling at around the 90mph mark.


Abdul Habib: What do you mean by terms like hand release speed and actual match speed?

Ian Pont: There's a huge difference between bowling in the nets when you're focusing on pure speed whilst not caring where the ball ends up and actually aiming at the stumps with a batsman in the way during a live game. Atul is physically capable of a hand release of around 105mph but I don't know how hand release speed equates to the speed of the ball and I don't know how the speed of the ball is measured in an actual match. We don't know what Atul's match speed is because we've never clocked him in a match. It's one thing for Akhtar, Steyn and Lee to be clocking 95mph and over during a game but let's wait and see whether or not Atul can do that too. I would suggest that Atul is probably going to be bowling at around 90mph and that's where he'll be for most of his deliveries but he is capable of bowling much faster when it doesn't matter where the ball is going. It will be interesting to see how his hand release speed equates into digits on a speed gun during an actual match but at the end of the day it's up to Atul how he chooses to bowl. Does he bowl within himself in order to control where the ball is going with a hand release of 90mph or does he bowl as fast as he can with a hand release of 100mph but risk bowling a full toss or sending the ball down the legside. Atul is still learning and this IPL stint will be part of that process, what we want to see is a series of deliveries from Atul where the ball does something. We don't want him to be bowling gun barrel straight all the time because that's no good either.


Abdul Habib: I guess we'll have to wait and see if a hand release speed of 100mph equates to a match speed of 100mph too.

Ian Pont: There seems to be way too much focus on maximum speeds. What we need to remember is that just because Atul has the ability to bowl at 100mph it doesn't mean that he can every time he bowls. In the whole history of cricket only two balls bowled by Shoaib Akhtar have been clocked at over 100mph. Guys like Lee, Thomson and Tait have also sent down a handful of deliveries at around 100mph too. Some people seem to think that because Atul has practised once at 100mph, that 100mph is his average speed and that's just ridiculous. It's far better if others watch him bowl and make up their own minds, because everyone will have an opinion. Our personal goal is to make Atul the fastest ever Indian bowler, as you know India doesn’t have a tradition of producing out and out pace bowlers. They've had some fantastic batsmen and quality spinners but a genuine express pacer is the one thing that they've lacked and we're hoping Atul is the answer to that. Atul's goal has been to try and bowl as fast as possible and that's what we've been helping him to achieve.


Abdul Habib: Why do you think India has struggled to produce a genuine pace bowler when even Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have boasted bowlers like Blignaut and Mortaza.

Ian Pont: I don't believe that most countries have regularly produced genuine fast bowlers, out of all the countries that do produce express pace I think that Pakistan has done it the most often. In fact over the last 15 years Pakistan has led the way with quality fast bowlers who have genuine express pace. For me a genuine fast bowler is someone who is bowling at over 90mph but there aren't very many of them around, anyone who bowls over 95mph is incredible and at the moment we only have 4 guys capable of that. Currently only Shoaib, Lee, Tait and Steyn are in that bracket. When you're talking about express pace then you don’t think of Indian bowlers, I honestly don't know why India has never produced a genuine express pacer. Maybe it has something to do with the way Indian cricketers are built, they don't tend to be big and bulky. This is where Atul's build is different to a lot of Indian physiques. He's built more like Shoaib and he doesn't look like the sort of slim, slightly built player you might expect to see coming from India. I don't know if power will always equal express pace but in Atul's world it does. Another reason for India not producing fast bowlers might be the nature of their pitches, I'm talking about the carry through to the keeper. If a pitch has good bounce and carry then it encourages youngsters to run in and bowl fast but if there's no pace in the wicket then no-one will want to break their backs bowling fast on that sort of wicket. It could be that once the shine is gone on Indian pitches, the bowlers start looking to exploit line and length or swing instead of speed. That could be a reason too. But that's not the way guys like Shoaib Akhtar or Waqar Younis bowled. What they did is what I like to think of as real fast bowling. Bothm of them were seriously rapid fast bowlers who did amazing things with the ball at ferociously high speed. I guess there's no real answer and I'm just trying to make excuses, I believe there's no reason why any person on this planet cant bowl fast. The real secret is knowing how to do it.


Abdul Habib: Coming back to Atul, other than speed what would you say his main strength is? Is it swing, seam movement or line and length?

Ian Pont: Atul is easily the fittest and strongest cricketer in the world, I've worked with a lot of cricketers and I don't know anyone who has anything like his dedication. In terms of does he swing a cricket ball then yes he's got a bit of a tail on it, he gets some inswing and he can swing it away too. At the sorts of speeds Atul is bowling the length is more likely to be full rather than short, so he'll be looking to get the ball up around the blockhole area all the time. What you have to remember is that in 20/20 cricket he will only be bowling 24 deliveries and it's better for him to try and focus on perfecting a couple of deliveries and to make sure that he bowls them really well. This is not the format for Atul where he needs to mess around with too many variations.


Abdul Habib: You said Atul hasn't played a game of cricket for 7 years, what about club games?

Ian Pont: No, not even club games. I think he was around 16 when he last played in a game and I think that was junior cricket for a club. I don't know a lot about his background but I do know that he hasn't played a game of cricket for 7 years.


Abdul Habib: Once you'd finalised his action and he was bowling straight then don't you think it would've been a good idea to play him in some club games? Just to get him used to using his new action in actual match conditions.

Ian Pont: That would probably be true of most bowlers and most coaches but that wasn't where this needed to go. We needed to find a way for him to access his power and strength, you don’t need to play in games to learn how to do that. As long as he ends up bowling straight, then the aim has been achieved. You wouldn't need to play Murali in club cricket for 5 years to see that he's got something special, in the same way if you've got someone who can bowl like Atul then he doesn't need to spend years playing club cricket either.


Abdul Habib: I'm not talking about 3 to 5 years, I only meant a handful of games or a short tournament.

Ian Pont: I'm exaggerating to make my point. Actually Atul was offered the chance to play in some games out in South Africa which he didn't need to play in because he's still a work in progress and not the finished article. Besides he's been picked up by the Rajasthan Royals and now has the chance to play on the biggest domestic stage of them all. It's out of our hands now and it's down to Shane Warne whether or not he picks Atul in his playing XI, if he does then it could be one of the most interesting debuts ever.


Abdul Habib: Can you talk about Atul and the Rajasthan Royals?

Ian Pont: I can't comment on that but I'm happy to talk about Atul and myself.


Abdul Habib: In your opinion why do you think they picked Atul despite his lack of cricket? What did they see in him?

Ian Pont: I don't know what they saw in him or why they picked him, for all I know they needed a fast water boy or they thought he'd be good to practise against in the nets. I don't know anything about their intentions or what they plan to do with Atul. If they do play him and he does well then I don’t want people calling him an overnight sensation because he's put in 3 long, hard and gruelling years to get to where he is today.


Abdul Habib: What if he does a Sohail Tanvir and is the revelation of this years IPL, what if India want him in their T20 squad?

Ian Pont: Firstly he's actually got to be selected. Then, if we assume that he does well in the IPL, it might be the case that the Indian selectors think, we have a strong 90mph bowler who bowls with control, let's pick him for the T20 World Cup. I don't know if that is even possible because the 30 probables have already been announced but if it is then it's entirely Atul's decision. If he feels that he's ready for something like that then why not, we've taken him directly from a training scenario straight into the IPL so all this is still quite new to him. But if he wants to do it then why not. However, I must stress that the rest is now all down to The Royals. They have to see him train, work with him and understand what they have signed, to get the best from him. If it was me I would give the guy a shot because he's so hard to pick up in his action and he has pace.


Abdul Habib: You know about his strength and his speed but what about his match stamina? It takes a different sort of stamina to bowl 20-30 overs in a day than it takes to bowl 4 overs in around 90 minutes.

Ian Pont: He's not going to be bowling 20-30 overs in a day is he? He's only going to be bowling 24 deliveries per game in the IPL. Even those won't all be in a row, he will bowl six balls, then rest and repeat that 4 times. If Warne does pick him in the team and he does well then his next tournament would probably be with the Rajasthan Royals in the Club Championship they're taking part in later this year. Again that'll be 24 deliveries per game.


Abdul Habib: I was thinking further down the line, perhaps a test match for India or something like that?

Ian Pont: He's perfectly capable of bowling more then 24 balls, there is no cricketer as fit and strong as he is. Neither is there anyone with as much stamina as this kid has, he's unbelievable. The stress and strain on his body from each delivery is so immense that only somebody with his physique could pull it off. He's 23 now and if he keeps himself fit and healthy then he could be doing this for the next 10 years.


Abdul Habib: What was the reasoning behind keeping him away from the media, why all this secrecy?

Ian Pont: When he first came to me, what could I tell the media? I've got an Indian kid with a front on action who bowls upto 75mph? Who would care? Even after that, all I could tell the media is that I’ve got a kid with a javelin action who is trying to learn how to control where the ball is going. Who would be interested in that? It wasn't until the last 12 or so months that there's been something worth reporting. The other thing is that we didn't want other coaches interfering and criticising what we were doing, Atul didn't need that kind of pressure. Atul has taken my book 'The Fast Bowlers Bible’ and is living it, I see the book as a coaching manual and when people see Atul it could revolutionise the way we think about coaching for fast bowlers. Equally it might not but there is a chance that it could. Most standard coaches don’t appreciate what a stretch reflex is and they don’t even know that a hip drive forms the basis of an action!


Abdul Habib: Are you also Atul's manager or just his coach?

Ian Pont: No. Atul looks after his own affairs, he's a very intelligent guy with his head screwed on properly. He knows what he's doing and understands that there will be some criticism and disbelief at first. He knows that it's down to him to focus and deliver on his potential.


Abdul Habib: Is there anything else you'd like to add about Atul?

Ian Pont: The Atul story is very unique and unusual which may be why some people are struggling to comprehend it. I think the biggest point of confusion is about the lack of press hype around Atul, they want to know why the Indian press isn't all over this story. The answer is that there was no story to find. Atul was never on anyone's radar, he was invisible. Which reporter would go searching for a 20 year old kid with a front on action who was bowling at 75mph? We haven't been hiding him for the last 3 years because we didn't need to, you only hide someone if other people are looking for him. The reason he hasn't been playing cricket is because it wasn't relevant for him to play cricket, there was nothing for him to learn by playing cricket whilst he was still trying to control his new action.


Abdul Habib: I think the confusion started because people thought he was an express pacer from the moment he met you.

Ian Pont: Well I can understand that, if people thought he'd been bowling at high speed with control for the last 3 years then it all makes sense. The truth is that it's only been recently that he's added real control to his pace and it's only then that there was an actual story to report. I know what he's capable of, most people don't. The IPL has a lot of matches coming up really fast and players can go in and out of form quickly. Also, if teams don't do well they may wish to shake things up a bit. It's great to have someone like Atul in your ranks to call on. Pace alone without control isn't the meal ticket to the big time. But having the fastest Indian bowler sitting on your bench is a nice position for any franchise to be in.