Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel said Namibian bowlers should look to not give any room to Ishan Kishan in the T20 World Cup clash. Kishan scored 20 runs off 16 balls against the USA before he was caught at mid-off.
Patel praised the USA bowlers for keeping Kishan at bay and for not giving him any freebies. Kishan recently scored 215 runs in four matches against New Zealand at a blistering strike rate of 231.18 and an average of 53.75.
“Absolutely, that would be the plan against Ishan Kishan. The variation of pace will be important. He is someone who likes to play with a certain flow and I thought the USA bowlers did really well while using their options in the seam bowling. They used pace really well,” Parthiv Patel said on Star Sports.
Patel said Namibian bowlers should look to bowl fuller lengths against Ishan Kishan.
“Obviously, Ishan has a huge range of shots. If it’s outside the off-stump, he can play the cut shot. If it’s full and you give him width, he is always ready to play those big shots. However, against Ishan Kishan, I feel bowlers will try and pitch it as up as possible, like the way he got out at mid-off, so that he doesn’t get under the ball and doesn’t get the elevation,” Parthiv observed.
Patel reckons the full-length swinging deliveries will trouble Ishan Kishan.
“The six-meter to eight-meter length, that’s where every batter will have problems. However, to me, if you want to get Ishan out, I know the strike rate is above 200, but this (full) is the length where, if the ball is swinging, he will have those problems, and that’s what I think bowlers will try and do,” he replied.
The Gujarat Titans assistant coach urged Kishan to play grounded shots and look for boundaries and not sixes.
“If it’s not there, if you don’t have that much of room to free your arms, try and hit it along the ground. To get that elevation, you need to have a bit of space. If the bowler is not giving you that kind of space, you have to hit it along the ground and collect those boundary fours,” Parthiv observed.
India will next take on Namibia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Thursday.
