‘When we played in Bangladesh in catches like these…’ – Ishan Kishan decodes reason for India’s downfall against Bangladesh

With an exciting 2-run triumph over Sri Lanka in the first of the three T20Is at home, India got the year off to a winning start. The star performer was pacer Shivam Mavi, who made his India debut. In his four overs, he took 4 wickets while conceding only 22 runs. Umran Malik also enjoyed his outing in the game. The Jammu and Kashmir speedster clocked as high as 155 km/h on the day, and in his four overs, he took two wickets and conceded just 27 runs.

Aside from the two, Ishan Kishan also received massive accolades for his glovework. In addition to taking a superb catch to remove Charith Asalanka from the game off the bowling of Malik, the wicketkeeper barely allowed any balls to go past him. Kishan also covered a lot of ground to complete the catch, while also signalling to Harshal Patel at the third not to go for the catch. He then executed a fantastic dive to grab hold of the ball. Fans praised Kishan for his outstanding athleticism on social media as soon as the scene went viral.

That was an important catch in the context of the game: T Dilip

In a video that the Indian Cricket Board published earlier on Wednesday, Kishan can be seen discussing his ideas with fielding coach T Dilip. Ishan drew attention to India’s fielding mistakes during the most recent series against Bangladesh, where the side lost quite a few opportunities. “I think we have seen when we played in Bangladesh in catches like these calling was a problem,” said Kishan.

“My plan was to if I am going I will go all out which will avoid confusion hence I called out. Even during practice sessions, I was talking to Dilip Sir about the importance of calling in high catches. We practised the high catches with the softball and all the hard work bore fruits,” he added.

The coach was really pleased with his ward’s performance. “That was an important catch in the context of the game. Asalanka does play well against us. The best thing I saw from outside as a fielding coach, is to take a catch while running that much is very tough. We all know your speed is good, so it was fabulous to see that,” said Dilip.