T20 World Cup | Ishan Kishan Press Conference: Indian batting collapses in fifty against Namibia
In both games, the word from the Indian camp remained constant. They expected the wicket to be flatter and behave in a certain way, but the slowness in Mumbai and the odd low bounce in Delhi caught them by surprise. Colombo is expected to be no different and will require a lot of adaptation and unlearning for a destructive batting unit that has enjoyed batting havens in the bilateral matches that preceded the multi-nation tournament.The sample size isn’t that big, but both Shadley van Schalkwyk and Gerhard Erasmus provided a blueprint for the remaining teams. If you have to stop this marauding Indian unit, be tactically smart: change your approach and prepare different plans. This Indian XI boasts as many as five, even six when Abhishek Sharma played the first match, left-handers in the top eight, but they are all different. What works for Ishan Kishan may not work for Abhishek and a similar plan will not do the job for the likes of Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and Axar Patel. From their approach to stroke arcs to the technical details, there is very little similarity, which makes it all the more important to have clear and precise plans for each.
Shadley van Schalkwyk celebrates a wicket during the Men’s T20 World Cup match between India and USA at the Wankhede Stadium. (Getty Images)
Schalkwyk mixed up his bumpers based on advice from his US teammates and Erasmus was very clever in using angles, different drop points and grooves. The delivery to Tilak Varma took forever to reach the Indian batter as the bowler dropped it well past the wicket. Even the stepping did not achieve the desired connection. Namibia coach Craig Williams heaped praise on his captain, praising his ability to deliver the toughest turns in the innings.“He trains incredibly hard in all these variations and I think – he plays cricket around the world in some leagues and bowls all the tough overs, bowls some really tough overs. And he’s always working on his game and trying to figure out how he can be more effective against the batsmen. And I think tonight, again, against a world cricket team, he showed the world, again, what he’s just done.” “I think his first three overs went for 16 or something and then the 19th over because they were all under pressure – the first ball went for a six and then he pulled it back, I think that was really fantastic, so I’m really happy for him that he’s been training hard and working hard on those variations in his game,” Williams said in the post-match press conference.
Namibia’s Gerhard Erasmus has troubled the Indian batting in the T20 World Cup. (Agencies)
Erasmus certainly came prepared. While the occasional hit in action can disrupt a batsman’s concentration, Ishan felt it only takes a few balls to get used to it and clear it from his mind. Does this affect plans to go big? Not really!“It might play in your head for a few balls, but I think at this level you have to have confidence in your own strength as well. Even if he’s trying to do something, we can go for sixes or boundaries at the same time. It’s so important how we think at that moment when the bowler is trying to do something else. But if we’re just looking for boundaries and sixes and we’re trying to stick more, the bats and we’re trying to keep our own strength, we believe in our own strength.” yes, some batters may score, some may not, but it is a part of the game and you keep learning game by game,” Kishan said.India were set for another big total against Namibia, but they ran out of steam in the last two overs, losing five wickets and adding just four runs from the ten deliveries they faced. The seeding pair of Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube departed off consecutive balls, Axar Patel did not score and the finish contrasted sharply with the explosive start provided by Ishan and Sanju Samson. Ishan echoed the team’s sentiment on the field but felt the batting unit had done well and praised the opposition for executing their plans under pressure. The goalkeeper expects his side to learn from this match for the remaining games of the tournament.
Ishan Kishan smashed a 24-ball 61 against Namibia in the T20 World Cup. (Photo Credit: BCCI)
“I think they batted pretty well. In both wickets I feel it was a bit different than what we expected. And today, looking at the death overs where we weren’t able to hit the big sixes regularly, I think we have to give credit to the Namibian bowlers as well because they ran riot with their yorkers, they were slammed with their slow ones. “So yes, it was a good learning, maybe if some other team is doing the same thing, maybe we can use the wicket more or we can do something else that can irritate the bowlers. So in this game, it was a good learning and mainly I think it was not about our batsmen not being able to hit sixes, but it was more of them bowling very well in the death overs,” explained Ishan.USA had India on the mat, Namibia had their moments and an immediate course correction with the bat is needed to cover all bases against a spinning Pakistan who have already experienced the Colombo strip. The Suryakumar Yadav-led unit has beaten the attacks in the build-up to the World Cup, but what worked yesterday may not work today and tomorrow is always a dive into the unknown. The muscle memory of the Tonking bowlers on flat pitches will have to be unlearned quickly as Colombo and the rest of the tournament don’t have to follow the script that everyone is so used to seeing play out in a loop.The remaining detractors of India would surely note the cracks exposed by both the US and Namibia.