NEW DELHI: Ishan Kishan spoke a lot to bowling coach Paras Mhambrey while he was hopping nets on Tuesday evening. Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja did very little batting while Ishan spent 90 minutes batting in the nets.
Ishan has been a late entrant into two World Cupteams now, the first being the T20 World Cup in UAE in 2021.Counting the U-19 World Cup, his returns in big tournaments haven’t been inspiring.
Setback for Team India ahead of IND vs AFG World Cup match: Shubman Gill to miss match against Afghanistan in Delhi
He speaking to Mhambrey at the bowler’s end with coach Rahul Dravid intently looking on is a throwback to a net session right before the U-19 World Cup quarterfinal in Bangladesh in 2016. Ishan, while leading India U-19s, had endured a wretched run of form.
Dravid held himself back as he didn’t want Ishan to feel more pressure. Mhambrey spoke to him about holding his shape and looking to build his innings slowly rather than relying on his natural hard-hitting instincts upfront against the new ball.
Tuesday evening wasn’t different. Right through the 90 minutes of practice, he focused on his defensive game. The flashy drives outside the off stump, the slogs and skips down the track to spinners were put away. Mostly facing the new ball, it was about dead defence, mild punches and check drives. The dismissal off Mitchell Starc in the previous match, flaying at a full, wide ball outside the off stump must be in the back of his mind. It was ‘going back to the basics’ in the truest sense.
It’s not a dream situation for Ishan though. He has been included in the team as a backup opener, wicketkeeper and a middle-order batter. To plan for a tournament with so many hats to wear was never going to be easy. On top of that, he found himself in the playing XI for the opening match after regular opener Shubman Gill went down with dengue two days before India’s campaign started.
“Ishan understands the moment. That was the reason he has been in the team. We knew that he can bat at the top of the order or in the middle order. So, he has done that before. So, no specific discussion on that. Just hoping that he comes good tomorrow (Wednesday),” India batting coach Vikram Rathour said.
“We understand that everybody has a different way of playing and we trust that if they back themselves, we will achieve what we are looking to get,” he added while talking about the gameplan.
It may all seem very simple from the outset. But it’s a tad more complex when you are Ishan Kishan. It’s about coming up with the right solutions and he has very little time to do that.