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Ahead of the third and final ODI of the series against Afghanistan, India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate praised batter Ishan Kishan for his century in the second ODI, noting that there is space in the team for his aggressive brand of cricket.
Ishan will be aiming to making most of his ODI comeback following a remarkable second ODI ton at Lucknow. After a dream return to the T20I side, which culminated in a T20 World Cup title win and a fifty in the final, Ishan has made two solid outings in the ODI series with scores of 34 and a 79-ball 125 in the second ODI. He also became the fourth-fastest Indian to reach 1,000 runs in ODIs during the match. Speaking during the pre-match presser, Doeschate said that the concern about Ishan was whether he could translate his explosive white-ball game into longer formats, and he showed he can with his century. Doeschate said that with "classical batters" like Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, who could bat through an entire innings, there is a place for players playing Ishan's brand of cricket. "I think with Ishan, the only concern was could he transform himself from a T20 specialist into a 50-over player and potentially even a red ball player, and I think he showed that the other night. By nature, he is very aggressive, and we still feel there is space for that in this team," he said. "You do have some solid batters around him if you include Virat in that team. With Shubman and Virat, you have got more classical guys who are going to bat through the innings, and we feel that the template for this format is to have guys who still go after it. He is a very versatile player," he added. Doeschate noted that Ishan can bat in the top and the middle order and is a top-order wicketkeeper. "If you look at squad composition, he (Ishan) is someone who obviously stands out with how he has performed under pressure in the T20 World Cup and how he has stepped into this team now and played a crucial knock the other night. I think he ticks a lot of boxes, and someone, like I said, purely for the versatility, someone you want in your squad all day long," he added. Speaking about Yashasvi Jaiswal, Doeschate said that he has been waiting in the wings for so long because of the depth and quality within the team's batting. He noted that while there was talk about making sure everyone gets a chance to play in the Afghanistan series, it is important for Jaiswal, who gets "odd chances" here and there to score runs. "You have got Virat coming back. You know, we think Sai Sudharsan is going to be a fantastic 50-over player as well. And that is just the nature of Indian cricket. There is no hiding from it. There is so much quality and so much depth that these guys, every time they do get a chance to go out there, whether it is on rotation or, you know, you feel we are playing a team on a rotation basis, they get these few chances and they have to take it," he signed off. Jaiswal, contending for Rohit Sharma's opening slot post-2027 World Cup, has had a rocky start to his ODI career, making just four runs in the last ODI at Lucknow. In five ODIs, he has scored 175 runs at an average of 43.75, with 116* coming against South Africa. In the remaining four innings, he has managed just 59 runs. (ANI)
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