After showing signs of struggle in then T20I series against West Indies last week, young Indian opener Ishan Kishan bounced back to form with a stunning knock of 89 in the series opener against Sri Lanka in Lucknow on Thursday en route to India's emphatic win in 1st T20I.
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Lacing 10 boundaries and three sixes, Kishan scored a 56-ball 89, which is now the highest individual score by an Indian wicketkeeper-batsman in a T20I innings, surpassing Rishabh Pant.
Despite the knock and the record, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels that the youngster needs to show consistency in a bid to find a place in India's T20 World Cup squad. While he hailed some of his drive and pull shots, along with his knock in Lucknow, Gavaskar feels that the conditions in the first T20I aided Ishan in his knock.
“Certainly the way he batted today, that does give the indication. But this is only the first game. In the three matches against West Indies, he didn't quite look comfortable. That length, pace and bounce were all different. Here the bounce was bellow the shoulder, towards mid rift, making it easier for him. But not taking away anything from his innings, some of the drives and pull shots that he played were terrific, but this was one innings. Let's wait for consistency. Let's wait a couple of matches,” he told Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}“Certainly the way he batted today, that does give the indication. But this is only the first game. In the three matches against West Indies, he didn't quite look comfortable. That length, pace and bounce were all different. Here the bounce was bellow the shoulder, towards mid rift, making it easier for him. But not taking away anything from his innings, some of the drives and pull shots that he played were terrific, but this was one innings. Let's wait for consistency. Let's wait a couple of matches,” he told Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier in the West Indies series, Ishan scored 71 runs in three innings as an opener at a strike rate of 85. The legendary batter feels once Ishan shows signs of consistency, he can make the India squad given that he offers a lot more to the team.
“Once the consistency is there, you can say that 'this is the guy we want', because he offers you three things - he is a wicketkeeper, he is a left-hander and he can bat at top and also finish the innings as well batting at 5 or 6.”
Kishan's knock helped India set a target of 200 runs in the series opener with Shreyas Iyer also scoring 28-ball 57.
Sri Lanka were restricted to 137 for 6 as India won by 62 runs.