Ishan Kishan and MS Dhoni share something common in that they both represent Jharkhand in domestic cricket and both are wicketkeeper-batsmen. MS Dhoni captained the Indian team for a decade, winning all the three ICC trophies and taking the team to the no.1 spot in Test rankings.
Ishan Kishan also captained the India U19 team to the final of the 2016 Youth World Cup and recently made his India debut in white-ball format. He started his T20I career with a boundary against England and then smacked a six off his first ball in ODIs against Sri Lanka, that too on his birthday.
Talking about his equation with MS Dhoni, Ishan Kishan revealed the one thing he wants to learn from the former India captain.
“There are very few players who can give that much to their countries... We have all seen how he has batted from No.3 to No.6 but never complained and performed wherever he went. That's something I want to do for the team to - just go out and perform wherever I get an opportunity,” Ishan told Aakash Chopra during an interview on his YouTube Channel.
He further said he mostly takes MS Dhoni's advice on wicket-keeping and how to better his consistency when playing in the IPL or internationally.
"Whenever I talk to him it's generally about wicketkeeping or when we meet during the IPL, I share with him whatever I am feeling at that moment. For example, I'll tell him, 'Bhaiya, I am not able to perform after 1 good game' and he'll say, 'It might be the case that your hunger goes down after one performance and you are not focusing enough'. These are the things I discuss with him, and he gives me very simple solutions like wicketkeeping drills and that helps a lot,” Ishan said.
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Ishan also opened up on the constant comparison with MS Dhoni, especially from people who expect him to fill Dhoni’s boots in the Indian team.
Kishan said: “Even today, wherever I go people say the same thing: 'MS Dhoni has played from Ranchi, now it's your turn to take his place'. I feel good too that I am being talked up as a guy who can take Dhoni bhai's place but there's also pressure because of what he has done for the country, that's very difficult."
Ishan Kishan also disclosed an amusing story behind the run-out he affected during India's second ODI against Sri Lanka last month. He said that he had planned a runout as MS Dhoni did during the 2016 T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh.
"Chamika was standing on the non-striker's end and he was the set batsman so we also knew he wanted the strike from the new batsman who had just walked in. Deepak was standing beside me at the short-fine leg. I told him that Bhuvneshwar bhai will hurl a slow ball outside off stump and this guy will get beaten trying to hit a six... Chamika will run and I will go running like Dhoni bhai for the run-out,” said Kishan.
"But he (Chamika) denied the run so I couldn't run him out. Otherwise, my plan was set to run completely to the stumps! That's why Deepak Chahar too buried his face in his palms after the dismissal,” Kishan added.
Here is the video:
Kishan and Dhoni will be seen in action for Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings respectively when the two teams clash in the first match of the second phase of the IPL 2021 in UAE on September 19.
