India paceman Ishant Sharma insists his side can give as good as they get on bowler-friendly wickets after crediting former England coach Duncan Fletcher for his match-winning display at Lord's.

Sharma finished on seven for 74 as India pulled off a 95-run victory over England, who were expected to dominate HQ's green-top pitch with their pace attack.

India came into the five-match series, which they now lead 1-0, as underdogs in games involving swing, seam and the short-ball, a reputation not helped by their 4-0 defeat to England back in 2011.

However, it was England who found themselves under the cosh on day five, losing their last six wickets for just 50 runs to end on 223 all out, with Sharma successfully bouncing several out of the game.

And Sharma, who led India's first win at Lord's for 28 years, told www.bcci.tv: "They say the Indian batsmen are vulnerable against the short balls but in this Indian team we have batsmen who can play the short ball very well and we have fast bowlers who can bowl good bouncers at will.

"Duncan keeps telling me, 'bowl more bouncers, bowl more bouncers'. But when you go in with a plan, sometimes it works and at times it doesn't.

"Things happen suddenly. Today I got to learn that if you keep trying persistently with the short ball ploy on a flat wicket with nothing in it for you, you can get rewards you never expected."

The series is well-placed for the visitors, who were thoroughly outplayed on their last tour of England in 2011, where Sharma was an understudy to India's then-frontline bowler Zaheer Khan.

Sharma is at ease with taking charge of India's pace attack this time - a tag already bestowed on him by the media back home - but warns against over-estimating his role.

"When I am on the field, I talk to the other pacers and mainly share my experience in a similar situation," he added.

"I just tell them things like how the wicket generally plays and what the particular batsman generally does. I do try to be the leader on the field because I have played more matches than them. But once we're off it, I am not a senior player because we all are almost of same age."