Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra believes Ishan Kishan’s comeback was written in the stars after the T20I series against New Zealand. Kishan scored 517 runs while leading Jharkhand to glory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and was subsequently named in the World Cup squad.
Kishan scored a blistering knock of 103 runs off just 43 balls with the help of six fours and 10 sixes in the fifth T20I against New Zealand. The left-hander scored his runs at a blistering strike rate of 239.53 and played an instrumental role in helping India post a mammoth total of 271 runs on the board. The southpaw scored 215 runs in four matches of the series at an average of 53.75.
Chopra highlighted that Sanju Samson went out of form whereas Tilak Varma was injured and thus Kishan was able to grab his chance at the right time.
Aakash Chopra said on ESPN Cricinfo, “A lot of people score a lot of runs in domestic cricket, but eventually a spot has to open up at the top. If there is no spot, no amount of runs is going to be enough. India wanted a keeper and a batter. Sanju [Samson] becomes the front-runner and Tilak Varma gets injured.
“From absolutely out of any conversation, you are a part of the playing 11 and then Sanju goes through the bad patch and Ishan Kishan is flying. So, it was written in the stars, if you believe in stars,” the 48-year-old went on to add.
On the other hand, the renowned commentator said Kishan didn’t care about the personal milestones and kept batting with an aggressive approach.
“Absolutely outstanding and it actually gives you a peep into modern-day Indian batters’ mindset as well. This guy has been like that since he’s made it back. He was not thinking about personal milestones, but trying to maximize every delivery that he’s facing.
“So, Ishan Kishan’s gets to a century with couple of sixes and then getting dismissed in the same fashion. There is absolutely no remorse or regret because this is how we play,” the former India batter concluded.
India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against the USA on February 7.
