IPL 2020 | There's always banter when Pant is keeping, reveals Ishan KishanÂ
Ishan Kishan, who was the star of Mumbai Indians' batting as he smashed a brilliant unbeaten fifty, taking his side home comfortably, revealed that there's always banter going on between him and Pant when they are playing against each other. Notably, Pant had played under Kishan in U-19 WC.Â
There's just a different delight when an aggressive left-hander gets going in the middle and today in the clash between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, it was Ishan Kishan who stole the thunder rather than Rishabh Pant, whom we have got used to seeing taking the spotlight when these two keepers are pitted against each other. In fact, Rishabh Pant was part of India's U-19 World Cup squad that was led by none other than Ishan Kishan. But, the trajectory of both the players' career contrasted with Pant playing for India and Kishan struggling for consistency.
But times have changed and Kishan has come off age this IPL, which has also witnessed Pant's downfall. But the old mates still engage themselves in plenty of banter when they are on field. Kishan, after playing a memorable knock, revealed that Rishbah is always chirping from behind when he takes strike.
"There's always banter when Pant is keeping and when I'm keeping. It was fun, he was saying something as he always does," Kishan stated in the post-match presentation.Â
Chasing 111, Kishan was at his incredible best as he made an unbeaten 47-ball 72 with the help of 8 fours and 3 sixes, and played some eye-catching shots. He didn't show any mercy on even Kagiso Rabada as he smashed the South African gun for fun. However, batting wasn't easy in the middle, according to the youngster, who stated that the ball wasn't coming on to the bat.Â
"It wasn't as easy as it looked. In the first few overs it wasn't coming on. I was just playing according to the ball and waiting for the loose balls. [The strength] credit goes to my mom for the food. I was just working on keeping my shape when I tried to slog, and I think helped. I worked really hard on these shots. My coach said teams will come up with plans against you, because you don't hit that much through the off side. This time I've been playing more, as you know my strength is on the leg side," Kishan, who was adjudged Man-of-the-Match, said.Â
Kishan has blasted 395 runs in 10 innings this season at an average close to 50 with a strike-rate of 143.63. Only De Kock (418) has made more runs than him for Mumbai but he has played three more innings more than Kishan. With 24 sixes against his name, the young Indian gloveman has hit the third most sixes so far, this season.Â