Wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan has been on the rise for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season. He played a healthy knock of 51 that allowed MI to register a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 1 of the playoffs, on Thursday.
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Kishan has been phenomenal for the side, scoring 483 runs in just 12 innings at a profound average of 53.66, including four half-centuries. He is MI’s joint-highest run-scorer this season, along with fellow wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock.
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Consequently, he has attracted the attention of former SRH coach Tom Moody, who feels that the day is not far away when Kishan would be in the reckoning for Team India. Besides, he has even termed him as the total package, despite the youngster having not kept wickets for the side this season, thus being overshadowed by de Kock.
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“We’ll start hearing about him for sure. He has been in the shadows and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be under the spotlight now because we’re only seeing the batting that he has to offer. We do know that he can keep as well. He doesn’t need to keep in that Mumbai side, so he’s the real package. The other thing is that he can open the batting and also looks comfortable batting in the middle, and that’s quite rare for a young player to have that sort of open mind and flexibility,” Moody told ESPNCricinfo.
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“I did listen to an interview that he did couple of games ago. He was talking about how he was pretty chilled about the fact that opens or bats at four or five, it didn’t matter to him. He was quite happy to play whatever role that was required. That maturity in itself was quite significant,” added Moody.
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Moody observed the fact that Kishan can bat anywhere in the order, besides noting that he had excelled even as an opener when skipper Rohit Sharma was out of action due to injury. “I just thought that his was a particularly mature innings," stated Moody.
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"Let’s face it, Mumbai Indians ended up with 200, but the only reason they ended up with that many I think was because of his craftsmanship in the middle of the innings. They did lose a couple of key wickets, particularly Rohit Sharma at the top and then, Pollard went very quickly,” Moody continued.
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“But, he seemed to steady the ship and be the sort of backbone for the innings without any fuss. He seems to be able to navigate those difficult times quite comfortably. When he hits boundaries, he’s got this unbelievable ability to hit the ball out of the ground," concluded Moody.
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