When the gangling pace bowler from Delhi made a sensational debut during the tour of Australia in early 2008, Ishant Sharma was heralded as the best thing to have happened to Indian pace bowling in a long time. In two years' time, it has become — to take off on the soul-stirring film — the curious case of Ishant Sharma.

It's not really a surprise that Sharma finally could not make the cut for the World Twenty20 squad, but the worrying part is he seems to be a confused lad as to what his approach to bowling should be. The same holds true for Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, at least to a certain degree, despite his match-winning performance against Sri Lanka in a Test earlier this year.

What, perhaps, makes Sharma's case more intriguing is that he is only 21 and has far greater potential to be a match-winner for India in the years to come with the pace and movement that he showed on arrival. Perhaps, both should take a cue from a person's advice who knows a thing or two about their art — Javagal Srinath.

Ironically enough, both the youngsters had been looked upon as the potential successors to Srinath as a genuine right arm fast medium bowler - but had flattered to deceive so far. However, this is where the Bangalorean had a simple word of advice for them during a visit to Dubai on Wednesday — to understand their limitations and accordingly decide which of the three forms of cricket they are best suited to.

Proving worth

Now, both of them are wicket-taking bowlers best cut out for Test matches — who had been tying too hard to prove their worth to the respective IPL teams — and ended up in leaking more runs. An Ishant Sharma would not be the half the bowler he actually is unless he gets the liberty to bowl the length for his swing and is not backed up by an attacking field — an anathema in the Twenty20 game.

The bowlers who had been successful in the shorter formats of the game reveals that they possess different skillsets. While its an imperative to pick up the Yorkers and slower ones as part of one's armoury — but the strength of a bowler like Sharma lies elsewhere. And this is where men like Gary Kirsten and Mahendra Singh Dhoni can come in and instill confidence in the likes of rhythm bowlers like Sharma or Sreesanth.

Otherwise, it's unrealistic to assume that any bowler worth his salt will give up the shorter forms of cricket to ‘hone' his skills better or to prolong his career!