Dhoni understudy Ishan makes a big statement

MAKING IT COUNT The Jharkhand wicketkeeperbatsman produces a matchwinning knock vs Knight Riders

: The transformation of Ishan Kishan took all of one ball on Wednesday. And as he moved from being beaten to belligerent, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) became increasingly woebegone.

When Kishan, 19, walked in, Mumbai Indians were 62/2 after nine overs. Kuldeep Yadav beat Kishan with his first ball after he played for the turn that wasn’t. The next ball, in the innings’ 10th over, was dispatched for six. The Kishan charge had begun. Soon, he would have Yadav’s number.

By the time he left, after a 21-ball 62 that had five fours and six sixes, Kishan had put Mumbai Indians on way to their third straight win.

“At that stage, he (Kishan) really changed the run rate. He batted well, played some nice shots. We bowled in areas he might have got out but he went over the fielders,” said KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik.

Kishan said it helped that MI let him bat at the top of the order. “It’s given me stability. It’s always good for a youngster to bat up the order…,” he said..

The role for him here was to hit well, said Kishan. “The coach (Mahela Jayawardene) said during the timeout ‘just be yourself as we need some good hits today’. Rohit bhai (Sharma) too said ‘you know you can hit well’.

KOLKATA

They knew if I was there, I can get a lot of runs,” he said.

After his first scoring shot went for the maximum, Kishan hit three boundaries off Piyush Chawla in the next over, the 11th. He also hit Sunil Narine for a six before being dismissed.

Karthik got Andre Russell back for the 12th over and Kishan smote him for a boundary on the off-side. When Prasidh Krishna strayed on the leg-side with the fine-leg inside the circle, Kishan hit him for a boundary. This was crisp hitting with all the fearlessness of youth.

One that seems to have had inputs from Jharkhand’s biggest sport icon, MS Dhoni. “I get a lot of tips from him….He tells me ‘you can take time, read the situation and that in turn should help you build your innings. That is when I feel confident….,” said Kishan.

He (Ishan) batted well, played some nice shots. We bowled in areas he might have got out but he went over the fielders.

DINESH KARTHIK, KKR captain The coach (Mahela Jayawardene) said during the timeout ‘just be yourself as we need some good hits today’.