Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer capture the day in the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka.

  • Feb. 25, 2022, noon

With regulars such as KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav absent, two batters grabbed their chance in the first T20I against Sri Lanka in Lucknow: Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer. Kishan, who had a strike-rate of 110 heading into Thursday’s match, finally cracked the opening puzzle this season with 89 off 56 deliveries, his highest T20I score. Iyer, who had been benched for two of the three West Indies T20Is, slammed an unbeaten 57 off 28, his fastest international fifty in the format.

An opening stand of 111 inside 12 overs between Kishan and captain Rohit Sharma (44 off 32) was capitalised upon by India, taking 44 off the last three overs courtesy of Shreyas Iyer. A total of 199 for 2 was always going to be tough against Jasprit Bumrah & Co; Sri Lanka lost Pathum Nissanka off the first ball of the chase to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and their pursuit never took off. The ball continued to grip in the second innings, negating the visitors’ expected advantage of winning the toss, and resulting in a massive 62-run win for the hosts. Sri Lanka managed 29 for 2 in their powerplay, whereas Kishan had propelled India to 58 for 0 after the first six overs, of which his contribution was 39 off 22. 

Over the past couple of seasons, Kishan has had to develop his off-side game; his go-to hitting areas were midwicket and square leg – they still are – but he’s worked on his range on the other side of the ground as bowlers would go wider to deny him the slog.

"I was not good at playing shots through covers, but I have worked a lot in this off-season. If I get the ball over there, I'll definitely go for it because it’s something that you know every team plans for you. They know what the weak spot is and where they have to bowl at us. So we need to practice that in the off-season, "Kishan said during IPL 2020.

In Lucknow, Kishan’s first three boundaries, including successive ones off Chamika Karunaratne in the third over, were through the off side, both in front of and behind the square. He doesn’t really lean forward but reaches out instead to squeeze the ball into the gaps, like he did to run it past the short third man a few times. Another standout was how he used the wrists, even while lifting the ball over midwicket, where usually he gives it the big slog-swing of the arms.

Kishan hit 56 off 32 as an opener on his T20I debut against England in Ahmedabad last year. But he failed to fire at the top against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup, and kept getting stuck against the West Indies at Eden Gardens – 35 off 42, 2 off 10, and 34 off 31.

For someone who becomes a runaway train when he gets going, Kishan – dropped at 43 – does have the tendency to suddenly stop in his tracks. It happened on Thursday, when he went without a boundary for 10 balls after entering the 70s. It wasn’t easy to hit, of course, when the bowlers took the pace off, but with Kishan, what can happen is that he’ll start swinging harder and harder instead of getting off strike. 

You can see why they wanted him to start the innings. He’s opened all season for Jharkhand in T20s, so he has the experience, and he struck at 170.55 in seven opportunities at Mumbai Indians. He’s spoken about trying to learn from Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya how to keep the fielding side confused about your next move. The 16th over, from Lahiru Kumara, was a sampler of what Kishan has learnt, and what he can do.

He first swung a six over wide long-on, after which Sri Lanka moved three fielders in the deep to the off side – deep point, deep extra cover and long-off. It was obvious where Kumara was going to bowl. He went full and wide, but Kishan reached out to guide him past short third man for four. The next ball was wide too, but a slower full toss; Kishan went leg side now, hammering it to vacant deep midwicket for four more, and forcing the field to be changed again.

Shreyas surgesIndia

were 155 for 2 in 17 overs when Kishan fell and Shreyas took over. Shreyas doesn’t have the range of a Suryakumar or a Pant, but when he targets his areas with clarity, he can be mighty effective.

His plan was simple; he’d move across, stand outside the stump, and slog over long-on or whip it square. When the Sri Lankans bowled wider, he’d stretch to slice them over backward point. Both ploys came off pretty well, with two-thirds of Shreyas’ runs coming on the leg side. Shreyas had walked in at No 3 in the 12th over, and by the time Kishan fell, he was on 17 off 14. Even the set-up to the death overs turned out in his favour; he’d had the space to size up the conditions by the time Kishan exited, and he had to make his move.

Author : Rajdhani Delhi Representative

Rajdhani delhi representative

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