Thiruvananthapuram: Suryakumar Yadav nodded in appreciation from the dugout when Abhishek Sharma creamed New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy for a six in the third ball of the first over during the fifth T20I here.
The Indian skipper was at non-striker’s end when Ishan Kishan pulled a steep bouncer from Kyle Jamieson over square leg for a six, and once again he nodded in appreciation.
The reasons for his delight could have been: one, India have found an explosive new template to fuel their title defence in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Two, India now have a core team — Abhishek, Suryakumar, Kishan — at the top, capable of executing that strategy consistently.
But Kishan’s is the warmest story among that group. He did not even have a BCCI central contract a year back.
Now, he is no longer an outlier but a worthy piece in the management’s scheme of things. Abhishek and Suryakumar too had struggles of their own, but they were largely on field in nature.
On the other hand, Kishan had to quell his inner demons as well, and going by the outings in the just-concluded five-match T20I rubber against New Zealand, he has done a marvellous job of it.
The left-hander made 215 runs from four matches at a strike-rate of 231.18.
Kishan’s strong statement
In a matter of four matches, Kishan has overtaken Sanju Samson as the primary choice for India’s wicketkeeper batter in the World Cup.
Suryakumar detailed Kishan’s importance in this marauding batting line-up.
“We always knew what Ishan Kishan brought to the table. We have seen how he played in domestic cricket just before this series. We always wanted him to bat the same way, not change his identity. “I think he was opening (in domestic cricket), and here he batted at No. 3. But we wanted him to be a game changer and whenever he took to the field, he batted that way,” he said.
More importantly, Kishan’s addition to the top-order and hyper scoring-rate has taken the burden away from India’s middle-order, consisting of Suryakumar, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube.