Out of all the beautiful knocks he's played, Ishan Kishan will rate this one amongst the top five for the sheet quality of hitting.
Ishan Kishan has come back into the Indian side and played a knock that will be remembered for years to come. The pocket dynamo, as he is referred to showcased sublime strength and class in the second T20I between India and New Zealand in Raipur.
The left-handed wicketkeeper-batter tonked 76 off just 32 deliveries, taking each of the Kiwi bowlers to the cleaners. After the hosts were reduced to 6/2, Kishan paired up with skipper Suryakumar Yadav to stitch a 122-run stand, which came in no time.
In the post match presentation, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter spoke about his mindset, and where he drew motivation from when he was not in the scheme of things. The 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batter from Jharkhand has had a tremendous domestic season, earning his place in the Indian T20I setup.
“I just wanted to score runs and sometimes you do it for yourself, to answer your own questions on if you’re good enough to play for India. Coming here and taking that same confidence, it was a pretty good day. I just asked myself one question that can I do it again or no and I had one answer that I can play through the innings and get runs,” said Ishan Kishan in the post-match interview.
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To say the least, the Indians did not have the best of starts to the second innings. Both their openers were back in the hut with six runs on the board with Adam Milne and Jacob Duffy breathing fire. It was then that the left-handed batter took on Zak Foulkes to dispatch him for 24 runs in the over.
What Ishan Kishan did really well, was that he never let the momentum go down after he got hold of Foulkes in the third over of the innings. From that point, there was no looking back. The Indians were chasing a total in excess of 200, and they knew they had to put the foot on the accelerator.
To add to that, Kishan is now making a strong case for his inclusion in the Indian World Cup XI for the T20 tournament. Though it would be difficult to vouch for his inclusion once Tilak Varma makes a comeback, there can be an outside possibility based on his form.
If Sanju Samson is unable to click in the series against the Kiwis, the Indian management will certainly think of opening with Ishan Kishan, which will also give the space for Tilak to come into the middle-order.
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