The young Indian wicket-keeper batter, Ishan Kishan credited the hard work put in by the Indian cricketers and fielding coach T Dilip for the improved catching that was on display during India’s nail-biting victory over Sri Lanka in the opening game of the 3-match T20I series in Mumbai on Tuesday. Kishan took an outstanding catch, running backward and covering a considerable distance before grabbing a ball that went high into the night sky at the Wankhede Stadium.
In the 8th over of Sri Lanka’s chase of 163, Umran Malik gave no room to the Sri Lankan batter Charith Asalanka on a short-pitched delivery. The southpaw batter went for a half-hearted pull shot, but only managed to hit the top edge of his bat before ballooning into the night sky.
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The ball hung in the air for a considerable period of time even as the television cameras were panning in on Ishan Kishan, who was sprinting backward from the wicketkeeper’s position to the fine-leg region. Ishan was seen calling for the catch and signaling to a fielder, who was also running for the catch from a deep fine-leg position to stay back and let him do the job.
Ishan Kishan managed to complete the catch successfully with a forward dive. Hardik Pandya, the skipper, was awestruck by the catch and so were the thousands of fans who had turned up to watch India’s New Year assignment at the iconic ground.
Decoding @ishankishan51’s superb running catch 🙌🏻
🗣️🗣️Hear from the man himself along with fielding coach T Dilip on the process behind that remarkable grab 👌🏻#INDvSL @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/X00lEyubof
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 4, 2023
Speaking to fielding coach T Dilip after the thrilling win, Ishan Kishan said the team learned from the mistakes that they made during an ODI series in Bangladesh in December and left no stone unturned in practiced taking high catches.
Ishan Kishan explained, “I think we have seen when we were playing in Bangladesh, there were a few catches which we missed because of calling, lack of proper sound while calling. So I thought when I am going for a catch, I will go all-out. So I called. Even when we were practicing, I was discussing with the coach that calling is very important. So we practiced this and we practiced high-catching with tennis rackets and soft balls. All the hard work paid off.”
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Ishan was electric on the field, he was often seen putting a full-length dive to prevent extra runs from being conceded. India successfully defended a below-par target of 162 runs, owing to a 4-wicket haul from debutant Shivam Mavi and a fiery spell from Umran Malik, who picked up a couple of crucial wickets, including that of Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.
Fielding coach T Dilip was also all praise for Ishan. “Catching while running back is very difficult. We all know your speed is great. That was a fabulous catch,” he said. The 2nd T20I between India and Sri Lanka will be played at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Thursday, January 5.
