Indian skipper Rohit Sharma backs young wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan to play the aggressive brand of cricket for India. The 25-year-old made his debut for the Indian team in the 1st game against West Indies but could not have an impact with the bat, due to brilliant batting by the top-order batters.
Ishan Kishan showed the ability to bat anywhere in the batting order in white-ball cricket. The southpaw has done decently well for the Indian team in ODI Cricket and T20 cricket, as he played brilliantly well for the Men in Blue in the limited opportunities and will look to make it big in test cricket.
Speaking to the media ahead of the 2nd game against West Indies, Rohit Sharma hailed Ishan Kishan for a brilliant performance for India in the limited opportunities and reckons that he has got the skill set to play the aggressive brand of cricket for India in all three formats of the game and said that he wants the Wicket-keeper batter to play with full freedom in the longer format of the game.
“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. 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.” Rohit Sharma said
Ishan Kishan brings versatility in the batting order and left-right combination into the play and the youngster has done a pretty decent job for the Indian team in the white ball format as he has smashed 510 runs at a good average of 42.5 in 14 ODIs, including an outstanding double hundred against Bangladesh.
If The Opportunity Comes, Ishan Kishan Is Raring To Go – Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma lauded Ishan Kishan for his wicket-keeping skills in the 1st test as kept well against the Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on turning wickets at Dominica and added that Ishan Kishan is raring to perform for the team, whenever the opportunity is provided.
“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,” Rohit Sharma added
Ishan Kishan will look to make use of the opportunity in the second test against West Indies as he was preferred ahead of KS Bharat for the West Indies tour, who kept wickets for the Indian team during the World Test Championship final against Australia in England.