Ishan Kishan channelled his inner Rishabh Pant to offer a bit of comic relief to 60,000 fans at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium. He swung hard at a delivery from Mitchell Santner, but the ball rolled to square-leg, along with the bat, which also landed in the same region. Rachin Ravindra handed the bat back to Ishan who immediately asked for a change of blade.
Three fours on the spin ensued in that Santner over. New Zealand opted for pace and brought Matt Henry into the attack. The Kiwi quick, though, bowled a slower one, and Ishan swivelled and sent it over the deep square-leg boundary. A four next ball took the southpaw to a 21-ball half-century. What Abhishek Sharma can do, Ishan can do better.
The “pocket dynamo”, as Sunil Gavaskar called him on air, turned his attention to Ish Sodhi. A reverse-sweep, and the fielder at short third was a spectator. Then he flat-batted the leggie over deep square-leg for a six. In December 2023, after Ishan fell out with then Indian team management and asked for a break, he became a persona non grata in Indian cricket. The second T20I between India and New Zealand in Raipur on Friday was his redemption.
By the time he got out after scoring 76 off 32 balls, Ishan had turned the game on its head. Chasing 209 for victory, the hosts lost both openers inside two overs. From 6/2, Ishan stitched a 122-run (49 balls) third-wicket partnership with his captain Suryakumar Yadav. The former’s contribution to that association was 76. No wonder that Surya was impressed. As Ishan walked back to the dug-out, the skipper gave him an embrace.
There’s also a bigger picture here. With Sanju Samson struggling to get going — after perishing for 10 in the first T20I in Nagpur, the wicketkeeper-batter fell for 6 off 5 balls — India have their back-up opener ready. Sanju’s form is not a concern yet, but when Tilak Varma is back, he will straightaway go into the No. 3 position. If Sanju fails to get his act together by then, the team management could be tempted to pair up Ishan with Abhishek at the top.
As for the Jharkhand captain, this knock was actually a continuation of his excellent form in domestic white-ball cricket.
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