Ishan Kishan told teammates that he will hit a six on first ball

Ishan Kishan made his debut for team India in the first ODI versus Sri Lanka on Sunday. He scored 59, but the highlight of his game was the first ball six over Dhananjaya de Silva. Now, he reveals that he had already told his teammates that he is going to hit his first ball for a six whosoever be the bowler.

In a post-match conversation with Yujvendra Chahal, Kishan said that he had already announced his intention to the team.

Apart from Kishan, Prithvi Shaw also played a knock of 43 to help India get off to a flier in the first ODI, and on the back of Shikhar Dhawan’s calm 86-run knock, the visitors scripted a seven-wicket win. Chasing 263, the Dhawan-led outfit was clinical and there is no area that needs major reworking.

Suryakumar Yadav coming into bat at number five scored 31 off 20 balls with the help of five boundaries and he, along with Dhawan, ensured India cruised home with 80 balls to spare.

If one wants to look at loopholes in batting, then probably it was just Manish Pandey, who did not look his fluent self and he scored 26 off 40 balls. With youngsters breathing down his neck, Pandey needs to make every opportunity count and in the next two ODIs, the right-handed batsman would definitely be under pressure.

The spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal played a match together for the first time since the 2019 World Cup match against England. Both spinners took two wickets each during the middle phase and the duo looked their old self and it augurs well for the team if they are able to gain their confidence back.

Death bowling remains a concern though for this Indian outfit and that is something coach Rahul Dravid would want his wards to address. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was not able to execute his yorkers at the backend, and as a result, he conceded runs and Sri Lanka’s tailenders took the team’s score past the 260-run mark.

Bhuvneshwar conceded 63 runs from his nine overs.

(With inputs from ANI)