There is a difference between him & KL Rahul: RP Singh believes Ishan Kishan needs to make his chances count

There is a difference between him & KL Rahul: RP Singh believes Ishan Kishan needs to make his chances count

There is a difference between him & KL Rahul: The current Indian cricket team has got plenty of options at its disposal. When there is intense competition for a place in the playing XI, every player has no choice but to be on his toes to get selected. The return of KL Rahul to the set-up has further intensified the top-3 race. On the other hand, young Ishan Kishan is yet to find his charm in Zimbabwe. The left-handed batter knocked just 6 in the second ODI of the three-game series in Harare.

Ishan Kishan featured in eight straight T20 International matches for India after the end of IPL 2022. He performed well in them. But with the senior players starting to return to the side, he had to make way for them. Since Rohit was back in the team, he held the openers’ role, and Rishabh Pant took the spot of the wicketkeeper. So it became tough for Ishan to make his way into the playing XI. On the other hand, when in between he got the chance in one-off matches, he failed to make the most of it.

The highest run-getter in the five-match T20 International series against South Africa at home in June failed to replicate the show in the one-off T20I that he got to bat in England and West Indies. He managed to make only 8 and 11, respectively. According to former India pacer RP Singh, the low-key performance of Kishan are something that will not do anything good for his chances.

Since there is a lot of competition in the team for every spot, each and every player who is fortunate to get get a chance has to make it count. The players cannot afford to let it go. Ishan got the opportunity to feature in five ODI matches to date. He received a chance to present his case in the second ODI against Zimbabwe on Saturday (August 20). But he let this chance go in vain as he could only make six runs. And in the third game, he faced an unfortunate dismissal scoring 50 runs due to confusion with Gill.

According to RP Singh, Ishan should make the most of opportunities as opposed to KL Rahul. RP Singh thinks KL Rahul is an “established” player on the side.

“There is a difference between him (Kishan) and KL Rahul. Ishan Kishan is a young player. He needs to know how to make the best use of his chances. This (second ODI) was also a chance for him,” he said on Sony Sports.

“KL Rahul is an established player and he has excellent technique. He is coming on the back of plenty of performances and is the captain of the Indian team. It is not that he (Kishan) will not get more chances; he will definitely get them, but if your performances are not good, you will slowly start going out.”

RP Singh underlined how Ishan is in needs to spend time in the middle.

“You will have to put up a big score, that too a match-winning knock. There was a chance today, you were not chasing that big a score. You just had to stitch together a partnership and give some stability, but you could not do that.”
“When he came to bat, he was not looking in touch. It seemed from the body language that he was struggling slightly. It was actually a drivable ball but he could not reach close to it at all, that is why he got the inside edge. He is a sound batter but game awareness is also important,” the former pacer elaborated.