Indian cricket team's young wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan had a tough time against the West Indies in the recent white-ball series at home, but he managed to find his form and played an explosive innings against Sri Lanka in the first T20I on February 24 in Lucknow.
Since Ishan Kishan is currently being tried as an opener, the youngster was brought in to open the innings along with Rohit Sharma in the opening match of the ongoing three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Well, the left-hander didn't let anyone down, scoring a blistering 89 off 56 balls and played a key role in India's 62-run victory over the Islanders in the first T20I in Lucknow.
The 23-year-old cricketer shared a 111-run partnership for the first wicket with Rohit Sharma (44), as well as added 44 runs with Shreyas Iyer (57*). During his match-winning knock, Ishan smashed 10 fours and 3 sixes and was later awarded the Player of the Match award for his brilliant performance.
He had made just 71 runs in three innings against the West Indies. After the conclusion of the match against Sri Lanka, Ishan revealed that he had got to learn a lot from the West Indies series.
Ishan Kishan told Star Sports in the post-match presentation ceremony: “I got to learn a lot from the West Indies series. My intent wasn't good enough, I wasn't positive enough. I was just trying to keep it simple here - watch the ball and play my shots.”
He also opened up about his memorable shot from his explosive knock, saying: “Pull is my favorite shot, I enjoy playing that shot.”
The youngster was also happy that the match was played in a bigger stadium at Lucknow before the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia later in the year. He added, “It's a positive thing for the batting unit as well because you need to hit gaps preparing for the world cup in Australia. Bigger boundaries are a good thing as we get lots of gaps.”
Ishan signed off by saying about his on-field conversation with Shreyas Iyer in Lucknow, “I was talking to Shreyas (Iyer) about the mid-wicket region. He said if you middle the ball you could get a boundary. If you hit the gaps you can get two. And it went my way.”
(With IANS Inputs)
