India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan on Sunday (July 23) slammed his maiden half-century in red-ball cricket during the second Test against West Indies at Queen’s Park Oval.

Kishan was promoted to bat at No. 4 and the southpaw didn’t let his team down, scoring 52 not out off 34 balls before the visitors declared their second innings on 181/2 to set a massive target of 365 for West Indies.

Speaking after the day’s play, Kishan revealed that Virat Kohli backed him to bat at No. 4 and play his natural game while also adding that Rishabh Pant helped him out with his bat positioning at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

"It was really special (the half-century). I knew what the team needed from me. Everyone backed me. Virat backed me and told me 'go and play your game'. Let us hope we will finish the game tomorrow. It was Virat bhai who took the initiative and told me that I should go in. There was a slow left-armer who was bowling. It was a good call for the team. Sometimes you need to take these calls," said Kishan.

"We had the plan that we will play 10-12 overs after the rain break and score 70-80 runs. We wanted a 370-380 target. I was at NCA before this. Pant was also there. He knows how I play. We have known each other for under-19 days. I also wanted someone to advise me and luckily he was there to tell me something about my bat positioning," he added.

"There are so many senior players who keep talking to the bowlers. It should be a good game tomorrow. We need to hit the right areas and important to get early wickets. It was one of my dreams to get into the whites. I just wanted to go in and hit every ball. I am mostly thankful to my parents who have always supported me," he further remarked.

Coming to the match, R Ashwin claimed two wickets to leave West Indies at 76/2 at stumps on Day 4. While the hosts require 289 runs, the tourists need eight wickets to seal the Test match on the final day.

Earlier on Day 4, India rode Mohammed Siraj’s stunning five-wicket haul to bundle out the Caribbean team for 255 and take a sizeable first-innings lead of 183 runs.

(With ANI Inputs)