Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant were touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket when the duo played together in the Under-19 World Cup 2016. While Pant has more or less established himself as India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in all three formats, Kishan is yet to receive his national cap despite strong performances in domestic and List 'A' cricket in the last few years.
But Kishan, who is donning the keeping gloves for India ‘A’ in the first three matches of the five unofficial ODIs against South Africa ‘A’ in Thiruvananthapuram, reckons that his time will come and he should rather focus on improving his game.
“I think it is obviously there in the back of the mind (the talk) that I have to be there in the senior team. Any youngster would want to represent the country. But at the same time, I want to focus on my process. I need to get better day-by-day. If I think a lot about senior team selection, I will only be burdening myself with additional pressure. So what I do is to keep the process going. I need to work on my consistency. When I play domestic matches or for India ‘A’, I have to keep on performing well and obviously then the selectors will pick you (to the national squad),” Kishan told TOI when asked about his Team India aspirations.
The 21-year-old Ishan Kishan made everyone sit and take notice of his talent during the second one-dayer against South Africa ‘A’ on Saturday (August 31). He scored 55 off just 25 balls to help the hosts win the rain-curtailed affair by two wickets.
Despite that blazing innings, Kishan is disappointed that he didn’t stay at the crease and finish the game off. Nonetheless, he is keen to learn from his mistakes and wants to improve as a finisher.
“You go in and get out, that’s not very disappointing. But it hurts more when you get dismissed after getting set and is batting on 40 or 50. The dressing room is hoping that you will finish the game off and then you get out in a bad manner. That’s not what the team wants from you. So you need to be there till the last ball and finish the game. I will make sure that I finish the game more often from now on,” he said.
Kishan also said that his wicketkeeping is still a work in progress and he has learned a lot from Kiran More and the legendary MS Dhoni himself.
“I spent time with More sir during IPL and he helped me a lot. I am trying to improve my keeping to the spinners and working on how to do quick stumpings like Mahi bhai. If I take his place someday in the Indian team, people will be expecting the same thing from me. I will keep working with him (Dhoni) as and when I get an opportunity. I am also working extremely hard to make sure I get better every day,” he revealed.
(With TOI inputs)
