India captain Rohit Sharma enjoyed his opening partner Ishan Kishan bulldoze the Sri Lankan attack during the series opening T20I in Lucknow played on Thursday. Kishan left behind a string of unimpressive knocks during the West Indies series to smash a career-best 89 off 56 with the help of 10 fours and three sixes proving why the team management rates him highly and the astronomical sum of money Mumbai Indians paid to secure his services at the IPL mega auction.
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It was the 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batter’s second half-century of T20I career as he helped set Sri Lanka a target of 200.
“I know Ishan for a long time now,” Rohit said during the post-match presentation. “I know the mindset he has. I know the ability he has as well. It was just about getting the kind of game that he had today . It was so pleasing to watch from the other end. The way he constructed the inners was so good, that is usually his problem.”
Rohit was also pleased with the return of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who spent nearly three months recovering from an injury he picked up during the Kanpur Test last November.
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Jadeja was promoted up the batting order at no. 4 and Rohit explained that he wants him to bat higher up the order.
“Very happy with Jadeja’s return. We want more from him that is why we asked him to bat higher. I want him to bat up the order more. He is a very improved batter, so we will try and see if we can promote him going forward,” he said.
Rohit himself played a decent innings of 44 off 32 with two fours and a six as along with Kishan, he added 111 runs for the first wicket.
“I love playing on big grounds, because that is when you will be tested as a batter. Here you got to use a bit of batsmanship as well. In Kolkata you just needed to time the ball,” he said.
However, all was not hunky-dory for the Indian team as they spilled as many as three catches during the Sri Lankan chase. “It’s consistently happening. We are dropping easy catches. Our fielding coach has some work to do. Come Australia, we want to be a great fielding side.,” said Rohit.
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