Ishan Kishan's Laborious Studies Pay Off as India Scrapes Home Against Australia

During the ODI World Cup, Ishan Kishan had many opportunity to hone his skills under knowledgeable trainers while sitting on the bench. He batted and batted at the nets, making mental notes about how to use different bowlers in different match scenarios.

In the company of the nation's finest cricketers, including a pair of all-time greats, the 25-year-old Indian batsman enjoyed the fruits of his laborious studies a while back during the opening Twenty20 International against Australia here on Thursday.

Leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha was the target of his assault, from which Kishan amassed 30 runs off only 10 deliveries.

"When I wasn't participating in the World Cup, I would ask myself before every practise session, 'What is crucial for me now? What I could do.' I practised a lot in the net and talked to the coaches all the time about the game, how to target certain bowlers and how to take the game deep.

"I had kept for 20 overs, so I know how the wicket was because I'm a lefty facing a leg-spinner. You should aim to smash a bowler when you are pursuing 209 runs. At the press conference following the game, Kishan stated, "I had a chat with Surya bhai that I'm going to take (on) this guy (Sangha) wherever he bowls because we need to get the runs and balls close."

"You can't give the back-end batters too many runs to score. They won't find it simple to take the big shots right away. I had to take a gamble because I had confidence in myself," he continued.

With one ball remaining in the five-match series, India took a 1-0 lead after chasing down a total of 209 thanks to Kishan's 58 off 39 balls and Suryakumar Yadav's 42-ball 80.

After India lost two early wickets in a large chase, communication with Suryakumar—who is heading the squad in this series and with whom Kishan has played a lot of cricket in the IPL—was crucial.

We lost two wickets early on, so cooperation was crucial. I know how Surya bhai plays and what shots he can make because I played with him on the same squad in the IPL. The middle portion of today's communication, in my opinion, was excellent. We were discussing which bowler to take and how to keep rotating the strike," said young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who had a challenging day in the field after scoring 54 runs in his four overs.

Even when the Australian spinners were bowling, they went for runs, so it was difficult for them.

"You saw the wicket, it was not easy, the ball was not doing much, the ball was travelling a lot. Josh Inglis, the way he batted, and at the same time he had Steve Smith at the other end. I know he is a very strong bowler, he has done well in the previous matches.

"We should concentrate on what we could have done; in future games, we will also receive wickets similar to this. "Bishnoi will perform admirably in the next games; he just needs to give himself a little more support," Kishan remarked.

The batsman-wicketkeeper called it a "solid all-around performance" overall.

"Excellent performance throughout. For the bowlers I know, it was particularly difficult because most of them were returning to international cricket after a lengthy absence. Thus, everyone deserves recognition.

"We were very good overall, I think," said Rinku Singh, who scored a brilliant 22 off 14 balls to lead India to victory following the heroics of Suryakumar and Kishan. "It was a pressure game when you are playing against Australia."

We learn a lot from games when we have to take singles and hit in the gaps because sometimes we have to play these matches where you know you are winning it easy and the match gets close.

"You know, Rinku has performed incredibly well in both domestic and IPL matches. And coming over here to play against Australia, displaying composure in the shots he made—I believe he was excellent tonight," Kishan remarked.

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