India skipper Rohit Sharma has high hopes from Ishan Kishan and hinted that the wicketkeeper-batter will get more opportunities in Tests to showcase his talent.
After doing well in white-ball cricket for the last two seasons, Kishan finally made his Test debut against the West Indies in Dominica last week.
On debut, the southpaw scored 1 not out off 20 balls in India’s only innings and he impressed everyone with his keeping against the likes of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja when the ball was turning and bouncing.
“Ishan is a very talented guy. We’ve seen it in the short career that he’s had for India. He recently made 200 runs in limited-overs (ODI against Bangladesh last December). He has the game and the talent and we have to harness that talent,” Rohit told reporters ahead of the second Test in Port of Spain.
“So we need to give (him) opportunities. He’s a left-handed batter and likes to play a lot of aggressive cricket. I have had a clear conversation with him on how I want him to play and have given him complete freedom. He has the game and if he wants a bit of freedom to express himself, then that is our job. We will do that with Ishan,” he added.
Rohit was effusive in praise of Ishan Kishan’s keeping skills on a spin-friendly Dominica track.
“I will like to speak specifically about his wicket-keeping. He kept really, really well considering he played his first Test and to keep against Ashwin and Jadeja where the ball is turning and bouncing and some balls keeping low as well… I was very impressed with his keeping skills.
“Unfortunately he got to score just one run as we had to declare. We want that our top-order batters bat long. If the opportunity comes (to bat long), he (Ishan) is raring to go,” the Indian captain stated.
Rohit Sharma also ruled out drastic changes in team composition for the second Test but admitted that bad weather hasn't helped in getting clarity about the Queens Park Oval track.
"In Dominica, we had a clear idea when we saw the pitch and knew the conditions. Here we don't have clarity as there is talk of rain, but I don't think there will be drastic changes. But whatever conditions are available, based on that, we will make that decision," he stated.
India began their WTC 2023-25 campaign with a crushing victory by an innings and 141 runs in the first Test against the West Indies last week. The second Test is due to get underway on July 20.
(With PTI Inputs)
