"Strike rate is still questionable" - Aakash Chopra on Ishan Kishan's knock in the 3rd India vs West Indies T20I
Aakash Chopra believes Ishan Kishan has left a lot of questions unanswered with his struggles at the top of the order during the T20I series against the West Indies.
Kishan managed 71 runs at a mediocre strike rate of 85.54 in the three T20Is he played against the Windies. He was found slightly wanting against both swing and spin.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra reflected on the Indian players' performances in the third T20I. He had the following to say about Ishan Kishan:
"There was pressure again on Ishan Kishan. He batted well but the strike rate is still questionable. Questions will be raised repeatedly on that as he is playing because of left-right combination plus destructive, explosive but he is not able to do that job."
The cricketer-turned-commentator was pleasantly surprised by Venkatesh Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav's performances with the bat. Aakash Chopra elaborated:
"Ruturaj - there was an opportunity, I thought he would do well. He played the wrong shot. Shreyas Iyer was looking good but got out. But when Rohit got out, India were floundering. I didn't think they would reach till 170-180 but then we had Venkatesh Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav - amazing partnership."
Team India were in a spot of bother when they were reduced to a score of 93/4 in the 14th over. Yadav and Iyer then strung together a 91-run partnership in the next six overs to help the Men In Blue set a challenging target for the Windies.
"Absolutely phenomenal" - Aakash Chopra on Deepak Chahar's start with the ball
Aakash Chopra pointed out that Deepak Chahar gave Team India an early advantage before leaving the field due to an injury. He observed:
"Deepak Chahar - the way he started, absolutely phenomenal. Bhuvi was not there, so you couldn't do a like-to-like, man-to-man comparison but he was getting the ball to swing. He dismissed Kyle Mayers and Shai Hope with away going deliveries and after that, it seemed he got a quadricep injury."
While observing that almost all the bowlers did their job, the 44-year-old was particularly appreciative of Ravi Bishnoi's performances during the series. Aakash Chopra stated:
"There were two crucial wickets in Venkatesh Iyer's kitty. Harshal Patel got three wickets, Shardul Thakur picked up two wickets in the end. Ravi Bishnoi has been the find, he bowled well throughout the T20 series."
Ravi Bishnoi has bowled 48 of his 72 balls this series to Nicholas Pooran & Rovman Powell, two brilliant hitters and both in ridiculously good form, and his economy rate in the series is still 6.3.
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Bishnoi picked up three wickets in as many matches in his maiden stint with Team India. The youngster had an excellent economy rate of 6.33 despite bowling difficult overs to some of the most explosive batters in world cricket.