Ishan Kishan had a memorable international debut in the second T20I against England at Ahmedabad on Sunday (March 14).
Opening the innings, the southpaw smashed 56 off 32 balls (5 fours and 4 sixes) in the chase of 165 to script India’s series-levelling 7-wicket victory.
While many were left astonished by Kishan’s fearless approach in the debut game, England opener Jason Roy was not surprised at all when he saw the young left-hander taking the game away from his team.
"He's obviously a star player, he's done that for Mumbai Indians, numerous amounts of time so I wasn't surprised when I saw him kind of teeing off a bit because everyone knows he's a star player so good on him," Roy said in a virtual media interaction on the eve of the third T20I.
"A couple of times he might have got a little bit wrong with the ball but he capitalised by hitting it for six. It's just a case of just making sure you kind of execute your skills extremely well."
While the hosts have come into the series with the mindset of playing fearless cricket, England are already used to that brand of cricket.
"It has worked for us in 50 overs cricket, it worked for us in kind of 10 T20 games we've played. Our policy is to play aggressive cricket, but the problem is, when you're playing on pitches like this you have to be a little bit more calculated. You have to assess it a bit quicker," said Roy.
"If you're wanting to play that way, you got to accept that some days it's not going to go that way. You are going to be three-four down in a powerplay. But with the depth of our batting lineup, that's the opportunity it gives to the top order batsmen," he added.
In the second T20I, England struggled with the ball while defending 164 on a pitch that offered less for their fast bowlers and it's likely to be the case for the third game as well.
"They are difficult but just as difficult as our spinners to face as well. We've almost learned enough already, that we should be kind of capitalising on what we've learned in this series but just last night we made a few mistakes," Roy said.
The England opener has been in fine form in the series, registering scores of 49 and 46. But he wants to convert starts into a big knock in the remaining games.
"It was a kind of pitch where you've got to pick your bowler. Unfortunately the bowler I picked got me out. I was looking to target Washington...
"If that over had gone for a few runs, it would have swayed the momentum of our innings quite a bit.
"What I learned was just to make sure I'm staying on my shots a little bit more. I missed a couple of my reverse sweeps. I was out of position, and then rectified that during my innings," he said.
While Roy called India a class team, he expects the visitors to bounce back in the third T20I on Tuesday (March 16).
"The boys have bounced back, we're a fast learning side. I don't think there's been a huge amount of wind out of our sails to be honest," he concluded.
(With PTI inputs)
