Exclusive Interview with Ian Bishop

14th May 2008

One of the weapons of the formidable pace attack of the mighty West Indies, Ian Bishop, who is now performing his commentary duties for the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) shares with us his thoughts about the tournament. The former paceman also speaks on the challenges confronted by bowlers in the shortest format of the game and hopes that Test cricket retains its hold in the future.

We are half way through to the first edition of the IPL. What do you think about the tournament?

It's been a fantastic event, it is well supported. I think the most important thing about the event is that the players have played like professionals, they've played with hunger and desire and that is what has kept them coming back. So from that point of view, it makes an event for me.

This tournament is the first of its kind. Do you think it's here to stay?

Yes, it's gone well. A lot of people doubted it. No one, even the organizers didn't know how successful it would be. It just needs to be logistically built on. But it's a fantastic idea, the franchise idea, getting the international players to come into the team.

Twenty 20 is a batsman's game. We saw the early games with some high scores but now the scores are gradually coming down. So, do you think bowlers are learning the tricks?

Yes they are. I mean the pitches have been more conducive and the bowlers are adapting to it as well and I think it's a good balance. I also think you need a mix of things for the integrity of the game, you need bowlers coming to the force sometimes and you need batsmen getting their runs as well. And once you get that blend, it's very important to get bowlers encouraged to continue playing the game because the greatest thing about cricket is the battle between the bat and the ball and it can't be one-sided.

We see a lot of use of the slower ball and it is very handy as well. Is there any advice you would like to give to the fast bowlers here?

I think the bowlers are handling themselves pretty well. Glenn McGrath has shown his experience; you're getting Irfan Pathan on the standings; guys like Zaheer Khan, so many names that you can call that are actually getting success. The success is obviously relative to the forms of the game. Obviously the economy rates are a bit higher but it shows that the bowlers will adapt to the conditions here. So I don't need to give any advice to them. They are doing a fantastic job themselves.

And do you think the pitches will slow down as we move on in the tournament?

That is one of the issues that everyone is talking about. Everyone is now going to say that the pitches are a lot slower than what they were at the start of the tournament. I think we have got three century makers (Michael Hussey, Brendon McCullum and Andrew Symonds) in the tournament who have also left, so that has impacted some of the teams. I think that's one thing that needs to be looked at in the next tournament. Have gaps so that you have consistency of pitches.

One final question: We spoke to Clive Lloyd earlier and he said T20 won't hamper Test cricket. What do you think?

Well, I do think that it needs to be compartmentalized and that is going to be a challenge. When you play a shorter, high intensity format of the game, you've got to make mental adjustments. When you get back to slightly longer versions of the game. I don't know how it will impact Test cricket. I don't have that foresight and that vision. But I'm still very much a Test cricket man. I do hope that Test cricket survives but I also feel that we have to look at what kids want. What a younger spectator wants. He wants T20 as well. So I hope that they have the best of both eventually.

As told to Moulin Parikh