Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has lavished praise on Ishan Kishan after the third T20I against New Zealand, which India won comprehensively by eight wickets at Guwahati on Sunday. Kishan was able to hit the ground running despite Sanju Samson’s golden duck in the run-chase of 154.
The left-hander smashed two sixes on the first three balls he faced against Matt Henry to set the tone of the run-chase. Kishan scored a brilliant cameo of 13-ball 28 with the help of three fours and two sixes.
He added 53 runs off just 19 balls with Abhishek Sharma to make the most of the Powerplay overs.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “Just look at how Ishan Kishan played yesterday. Sanju Samson got a very good ball, and after a such delivery, if you are watching from outside, from the dressing room, and see someone get a ball that lands in the middle and hits the stumps, the mindset is usually to go see how it plays, maybe it will seam a bit and Matt Henry is a good bowler.”
“But Ishan Kishan came out and played it in such a way that the game was practically over in a single over. 16 runs, no hesitation. As soon as he played the first shot, I was amazed at what a shot he played. It was not in a slot, and it was his first ball. To play like that, you need confidence, you need skill. Ishan Kishan has always had that skill, which is why he sells for so much at every auction. But that audacity, that I am not stepping back, is a different breed that we are seeing altogether,” he added.
On the other hand, leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi returned with impressive figures of 2-18 in his quota of four overs and Ashwin said the spinner looked confident on his return.
He concluded, “Washington Sundar has been replaced by Ravi Bishnoi, and there has been a noticeable difference. He seemed confident, he bowled good length, and yesterday, on a surface like Guwahati which suits Bishnoi’s slightly lower trajectory, he performed really well.”
The fourth T20I between India and New Zealand will be played at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
