Ishant's moving farewell to <i>Zak pa</i>

A very good example of what difference Zak pa made in my bowling was the 2008 Border-Gavaskar Series. I picked up 15 wickets and was declared the Man of the Series. Why? Because of Zak pa. In India a pace bowler's biggest strength is the reverse swing. At that time, I could only reverse the ball in. Zak pa taught me how to reverse the ball away from the batsman - simple things like how your hand should be and where the seam should face. It was a very small thing but it made a huge difference.

While he gave me such excellent technical inputs, he also kept reminding me that sometimes it is best not to get too much into technicalities and focus on tactics. At times, I tended to worry too much about things like where my right hand is loading and whether my release is right. He used to tell me, 'When you're bowling, just bowl. Just focus on where and how you want the ball to land, don't think about where your foot is landing and hand is going. The only time you need to get technical about your action is when it is causing you any kind of injury. Otherwise, you just work on your tactics'.