"Go to England & play county" - Fans react as Ishan Kishan fails miserably in MI vs LSG IPL 2024
Mumbai Indians batter Ishan Kishan was under fire yet again after a disappointing innings against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Match 67 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai hosted the last league match for both teams in this season.
In pursuit of 215, the home team opened with a different combination: Rohit Sharma and Dewald Brevis. It certainly worked out as the pair added 88 runs in less than nine overs, before Brevis (23) was dismissed. The next over witnessed Suryakumar (0) continuing his bad form.
Rohit (68 off 38), who was looking in good touch, was caught at short third-man in his effort to increase the team's tempo. Then, Hardik Pandya (16) started well, but couldn't convert it into a substantial knock.
Kishan came at No.4 in this game and struggled to get his timing right. Apart from scoring a solitary boundary, the southpaw tried to hit the ball too hard, which resulted in him losing the shape and ultimately getting bowled by Naveen-ul-Haq on 14 off 15. Then, Naman Dhir (62* off 28) delivered a remarkable knock, but MI fell short by 18 runs.
Fans on X had completely negative reactions to Kishan's knock, as they slammed him for a terrible season, and even suggested him to play country cricket and get his form back.
Check out the reactions:
Few fans pointed out the inability of Ishan Kishan to contribute in the middle-order, and think it will be a long wait for them to see the left-hander donning India shirts again.
"It doesn't make any sense sending ishan kishan at no 4 he doesn't have the ability to rotate the strike in the middle overs reason why he lost his place in the national team," one fan said.
"I think Ishan Kishan just played his last match for MI and India as well. It's going to be very long wait for him to play again for India," another noted.
This fan slammed Kishan for not justifying his high price tag:
"Ishan Kishan is supposed to be one of the senior batters in this side and right now he is playing a knock of a tailender. One of the biggest blunders we ever made at the auction table."
Overall, Kishan garnered just 320 runs at an average of 22.86 in 14 innings, with a top score of 69.
MI vs LSG: Super Giants finish with 14 points in IPL 2024
The Lucknow-based franchise batted first in this contest and got off to a bad start, losing Dedutt Padikkal (0) early. However, KL Rahul (55) and Marcus Stoinis (28) put the team in good stead with their positive intent.
The arrival of Nicholas Pooran changed the course of the game, as he went all guns blazing to drive LSG at an expensive rate. The Caribbean batter smoked 75 off 28 balls to boost LSG to 214. Nuwan Thushara and Piyush Chawla scalped three wickets each for MI.
In response, Mumbai were restricted to 196, as Ravi Bishnoi and Naveen-ul-Haq took two wickets apiece to help LSG win by 18 runs.
Although they have garnered 14 points, Lucknow's net run-rate -0.667 won't allow them to stay alive for the IPL 2024 playoffs spot.