'He didn't look comfortable': Ex-IND pacer critical of Ishan Kishan, says 'numbers don't always tell whole story'

Ishan Kishan showed good intent but experts believe there's still room for improvement in the 23-year-old's batting.

The India vs South Africa series saw the Men in Blue make a slow start, losing two T20Is on a trot before they bounced back to go on level terms. The series was being played in the absence of several key players, which allowed the management to test their bench strength.

Ishan Kishan bowled by Lungi Ngidi during the 5th T20I (ANI)

While many passed the test with flying colours, there were few concerns, especially Rishabh Pant, who's captaincy received flaks from almost every corner.

However, some who had an inconsistent IPL, made good use of the outing and made a rousing comeback. One among them was Ishan Kishan, who finished the series as the leading run-scorer, accumulating 206 runs from five matches at a strike-rate of 150.36.

While Ishan showed good intent but experts believe there's still room for improvement in the 23-year-old's batting. In fact, former India pacer Ashish Nehra was highly critical and stated that the opener was not very confident throughout the series despite finishing as the leading run-scorer.

"Ishan Kishan's numbers have been good in this series, but numbers don't always tell the whole story. He has played with a good strike rate too, but it won't be easy for a player like him to do that consistently, especially in T20Is. But the runs he scores have to be impactful. He scored 76 runs in the first game, but he didn't look that comfortable. He would want to convert his starts into big scores," the ex-India pacer noted in an interaction on Cricbuzz.