Ishan Kishan thanks Rishabh Pant after maiden Test half-century

Replacing KS Bharat in the playing XI, Ishan Kishan was expected to play an aggressive brand of cricket in the longest format, just like how Rishabh Pant used to in the past. However, in the first Test and in the first innings of the second Test against West Indies, the cricketer could not really prove to be dangerous, but that changed really soon. The team management decided to promote him up the order in the second innings, and as a result, he hit 52* runs off 34 deliveries to help India take a massive lead.

Talking about his power-hitting, the southpaw thanked Rishabh Pant, who is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Kishan, too spent some time there ahead of the series and stated to have picked up some of the things that Pant told him. The cricketer added saying that he needed someone to tell him about his batting, and that’s when Pant came to help.

“I was at NCA before coming here. I was practising there, and Rishabh was also there for his rehab. He just got a few points for me. He asked me to, you know, the bat position and everything because he had seen me playing with him. We have played together so many matches. We have been together since U-19. So he knows how I play, what my mindset is. So you just help me a little bit with my bat position and everything, so otherwise, I think I also wanted someone to tell me a few things about my batting, and it was a great time for him to come and chat with me and really thankful for that,” Kishan said in a video released by BCCI.

Hey Rishabh Pant - Ishan Kishan thanks you 😊#TeamIndia | #WIvIND | @RishabhPant17 | @ishankishan51 | @windiescricket pic.twitter.com/hH6WxxJskz

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 24, 2023

Meanwhile, right after Kishan completed his half-century, India skipper Rohit Sharma declared their innings and set a target of 365 runs. While chasing, West Indies have already lost two key wickets of Kraigg Brathwaite and Kirk McKenzie as they are 76/2 after the end of Day 4. In order to win the match, India need eight wickets, while the Windies need 289 runs.