Ishan Kishan, India’s wicket-keeper batsman, has picked experienced spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah as the most tough bowlers to face. The 27-year-old revealed this during an appearance on the ‘2 Sloggers’ YouTube channel on Monday, February 2.
When asked which bowlers he finds difficult, he stated that facing Chahal has always been difficult for him, while no pacer is better than Bumrah. He also revealed that during nets, if you hit a solid shot against Bumrah, he will always follow up with a bouncer. He said:
“When it comes to spinners, even Yuzi bhai feels very difficult for me to face. It’s possible that he has analysed me a lot. As for pace bowling, who is better than Bumrah bhai? And if I keep talking about Bumrah bhai again, he might get upset because I mention him everywhere. Many times during practice, we don’t get the same kind of wickets.”
“Sometimes there is grass, sometimes it is dry soil, which makes it slower. When bowlers see a grassy wicket in the nets, they sometimes show mercy, thinking the batsman is one of their own, so they bowl a bit easier. But Bumrah bhai is not like that. If even one ball comes off the middle of the bat by mistake, you know for sure the next one is going to be a bouncer.”
Ishan Kishan
Meanwhile, Ishan will compete in the forthcoming T20 World Cup 2026, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka and begins on February 7.
Ishan Kishan opens up emotionally about India comeback after tough phase
Ishan Kishan returned to the India squad after two years to play five T20Is against New Zealand, and he made the most of the occasion. He scored 215 runs in four innings with an average of 53.75 and a strike rate of 231.18, including a fifty and a century, as the Men in Blue won the series 4-1. During the same interaction, Ishan discussed his comeback and shared:
“You just keep working hard. There’s nothing you really need to worry about. You have one job. As a cricketer, I feel all we can do is bat and let the bat do the talking for ourselves. So I just had to do my job. And when you get there, you also realise that, yeah, all those sayings are actually true. That was the main thing, because my parents had shared so many such sayings while pushing me to work hard. Now we are beginning to understand which work actually matters. You just have to do your job well.”
“Expectations? What expectations, man? I think after a point you stop expecting and just keep doing your work your way. The best thing is to just keep working. Keep doing your job, keep batting. Making runs is your job. Taking catches is your job. Just keep doing it and the rest will fall into place. That was my only plan, and I think it worked pretty well for me because throughout that time I was very happy. I was in touch with everyone, with my friends and everybody. And I was just focusing on what I could change about myself,” he added.
Overall, Ishan has played 65 matches for India across forms, scoring 2,022 runs at an average of 34.86, including 15 fifties and two centuries.
