Your own career began as an exceptional fast bowler, but then the injuries cropped up. How do you see the last eight years in retrospect?
To be very frank, had I understood the secret of fitness early on in my career, things would have been very different. I would have had a better chance to resurrect all that had been going wrong if I’d realised it when I was 26, not 31.
My body wasn’t able to cope with the demands. The New Zealand team has an exceptional support staff but I needed to work a lot more on my energy, my strengths. The injuries kept recurring and I failed to work myself out of it. I knew I was quick and I always wanted to bowl that way. It was really frustrating.

Could you have done better in coping with those injuries?
For a fast bowler, there is nothing better than self-education. If a bowler can learn how to take care of his body, understand its needs when it gets physically very taxing at the highest level, he can sustain the pressure. He doesn’t need advice from several quarters, just one or two people who understand, who have been around for a long time, are enough.
Eventually, it is up to the bowler himself to work hard. Injuries can’t be totally prevented, but if properly taken care, they can be kept down to a minimum. It is the recovery part that is most painful and frustrating.

What would be your advice to Ishant?
Ishant reminds me of the days when I started bowling. The challenge for him is to handle everything that lies outside the sphere of his game. He has to learn to tackle the many hindrances that will come his way. There’ll be the media constantly following him, experts will come up with advice, there will be commercial activities. Ishant will have to involve himself in all this but, in the end, he has to perform. So he has to concentrate, trust in maybe a couple of those who’re close and work hard in the manner that suits his temperament, style and mind.

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