India Under 19 skipper Ishan Kishan hopeful of better showing from batsmen
Despite a comfortable 79-run victory over Ireland in India’s ICC Under-19 World Cup opener earlier today, skipper Ishan Kishan expressed his disappointed at the performance of his batsmen in today’s match, IBNLive reports. Sarfaraz Khan, who hit a Man-of-the-Match winning knock of 74 also shared similar sentiments as he felt he could have gone on to get a bigger score.
Kishan’s disappointment must be stemming from the fact that India had scored a mammoth 485 runs in 50 overs in a warm-up game against Canada last week before easily chasing down a target of 198 in the next warm-up game against arch-rivals Pakistan. With expectations high, India were expected to set up a huge total against minnows Ireland after being put into bat but ended up scoring only 268 in their allotted 50 overs.
The 17-year-old is, however, confident of a better showing from his side in the remaining matches of the tournament.
"I am not that much happy with the batting as we lost early wickets but this was the first match and I am sure we'll learn from this match and do better in upcoming matches. India has won the event thrice, so the expectation level is pretty high. We have to play professionally and try to live up to the expectations," Kishan said after the match.
The skipper, who himself was dismissed for nought, lauded the efforts of Sarfaraz and Washington Sundar, whose 110-run partnership for the fifth wicket had lifted India from a precarious looking position of 55-4.
"We lost early wickets but runs were done by Sarfaraz and Washington who had an excellent partnership. The fielding effort was great as we effected two run-outs at the start and then, the bowlers hit the right areas," the opener said.
Sarfaraz’s knock of 74 came off just 70 balls but the RCB youngster, who was dismissed in the 35th over of India’s innings, felt that he could have continued at the crease to notch up a three-figure knock.
"I should have scored more because I had settled in well," Sarfaraz said.
“Hopefully, I will do better in the remaining matches. But it is good to start the tournament with a win."
Ireland captain Jack Tector meanwhile opted to look at the match with a positive mindset and praised the effort put in by his side against the three-time World champions.
"We started the game very well with the ball and then also had a few partnerships which bodes well for the future," the Irish skipper said.