While Ishan Kishan has admired MS Dhoni all throughout, his idol before MSD was someone whose batting style is very similar to him.
India opener Ishan Kishan cemented his place in history when he smashed the fastest double-century in ODIs. Ishan blasted 210 off just 131 balls, brining up his 200 off just 126 deliveries, shattering the big-hitting Chris Gayle’s record. Ishan is the only batter whose converted his first ODI century into a double ton, his blitzkrieg helping India to post a mammoth total of 409/8. And although India lost the series 1-2, Ishan’s form was the biggest positive for Team India.
With his historic double, Ishan entered a rare and illustrious list of batters, becoming only the fourth Indian cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma to score an ODI double century. Ishan’s attacking style of batting has often drawn comparisons with the legendary MS Dhoni. Hailing from Jharkhand, the same piece of land where Dhoni came from, Ishan has often credited Dhoni for playing a huge role in his career. But while Ishan has admired Dhoni all throughout, his idol before MSD was someone whose batting style is very similar to him, the one and only Virender Sehwag.
“Maybe I bat like this because I have watched a lot of his highlights, like the way he smashed all the bowlers – like Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar – whoever it was, he smacked everyone around the ground. So maybe I got that instinct from him – I want to play in attacking mode. Perhaps I got it from him. And I also used to watch Adam Gilchrist,” Ishan said on OneCricket.
If one is to carefully examine, there are more similarities between Ishan and Sehwag than what meets the eye. After his 210, Ishan had pointed out that with 15 more overs to go, he could have scored a triple-century as well, but the record was not something that was at the back of his mind while batting. Similarly with Sehwag, he did not care, whether he was batting on 0, 99 or even 199 for that matter, and maybe that is why he has been dismissed for 195 and 293 in his Test career.
Ishan idolised Dhoni and Gilchrist equally, but when asked to pick one, the choice was pretty obvious. “MS Dhoni for sure. I love Adam Gilchrist’s batting and his keeping skills but Dhoni bhai, I have seen him all around as in what he does on the field, off the field, the calmness and everything. The way he meets everyone. So these things also matter – how you function and getting to know how he does it and it what way. He has helped me a lot also, how to take care of yourself when you are around people,” added Ishan.
