Unimpressed with Ishan Kishan's mediocre run with the bat, former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir issued a hard-hitting statement about the wicketkeeper-batter amid the ongoing T20I series between India and New Zealand on Sunday. A lot was expected from Ishan after the Indian opener stunned the cricket fraternity with his sublime double-century in Bangladesh.
Despite the double ton, Kishan didn't get a chance in the Sri Lanka ODIs and only returned to the fold when New Zealand toured India. Though Kishan has regularly featured in ODI and T20I series against New Zealand, the premier batter has failed to serve another timely reminder to the national selectors in the World Cup year.
Reflecting on Kishan's recent performances ahead of the 2nd T20I against New Zealand, which India won by 6 wickets, former Indian opener Gambhir feels the youngster should focus on rotating strikes on a regular basis. Not only Kishan, but Gambhir think the entire batting united of the Hardik Pandya-led side has struggled against spin bowlers.
“It's not only one chink in his armour. Indian unit as a batting unit has struggled against spin. Just the ability to not be able to manoeuvre..it's easy to hit those big sixes but the ability to rotate strikes consistently. And there was enough purchase for spinners as well. It was pretty much evident when you got Michael Bracewell against Ishan Kishan,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}“It's not only one chink in his armour. Indian unit as a batting unit has struggled against spin. Just the ability to not be able to manoeuvre..it's easy to hit those big sixes but the ability to rotate strikes consistently. And there was enough purchase for spinners as well. It was pretty much evident when you got Michael Bracewell against Ishan Kishan,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}“I think these young players need to learn quickly how to rotate strike because, on a wicket like this, it's not gonna be easy to go down the ground and hit those big sixes. It's a surprise because of the way he batted in Bangladesh after scoring that double-hundred. He has struggled after that, everyone thought his graph will start growing up with the kind of innings he has played,” Gambhir added.
Kishan was cleaned up by New Zealand's Michael Bracewell for a forgetful score of 4 off 5 balls in the 1st T20I at Ranchi. After the hosts suffered a defeat in the 1st T20I, the Indian opener was involved in a run-out during India's successful run-chase at Lucknow. “He still has to work a lot against playing spin because people will use a lot of spin against him in the first 6 overs. Because he still manages to play fast bowling very well. The sooner he improves against spin, the better it's gonna be for him, especially in the T20 format,” Gambhir concluded.