We are all creatures of habit.
For much of his career, Ishant Sharma’s habit was to run in hard, tirelessly, pitch it short of a length, beat the batsman, and not get a wicket as often as top bowlers are expected to. And for much of his career, fans would watch the lanky fast bowler do all that and habitually call him unlucky or simply not good enough.
Habits are essentially tricks that help us get through our day. When we are doing something that is habitual, we are not engaged in the task in the same way as when we are doing something that is not habitual. It is a bit like running on auto-pilot.
And to get through a day of Test cricket, Ishant would habitually pitch it short of length and, as demanded by his skipper MS Dhoni, try to not concede too many runs. It was his natural length… it was his habit or so it seemed to all of us.
Now, that style of bowling led to him playing his first 70 Tests and taking wickets at an average of 37.05. It was an average poor enough…