'Chota dynamite' Ishan Kishan gives himself two year's time to mature as a batsman

Every year the Indian domestic circle throws a couple of names who show the spark to become the ‘next big thing’ of Indian cricket. The ongoing Ranji season also has seen such names making their mark – two of the most prominent ones being Delhi’s Rishabh Pant and Jharkhand’s Ishan Kishan.

Both the young men are trying to succeed and graduate to the next level. While Pant has already grabbed enough limelight by featuring in the IPL, his contemporary Ishan Kishan is yet to achieve the same amount of fame. But, talk about the promise and put both of them on the same paper, they aren’t very different.

“Chhota dynamite hai, dikhta chhota hai, par jab fut-ta hai toh bahut awaaz karta hai,” Saurabh Tiwary tries to describe the explosive talent of his 18-year-old wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan. A tiny dynamite capable of making much noise. With 633 runs in 8 games for Jharkhand this season, Ishan averages an impressive 63 and is looking to resume fireworks when his Ranji teams take on Haryana on Friday.

He had once believed that the shortest route would be the best. He started as an opener and a captain of the India Under-19 World Cup team, but to the 18-year-old boy’s disappointment, he would return home empty handed. There was not much to talk about. For a small town boy from Patna, the world of live coverage and later IPL was hard to grasp. He admits he got shaky while trying to do something extra. It was then that Rahul Dravid came in handy. The former India captain had a piece of advice to offer.

“Starting mein aake sab chakachaundh dikha, pressure mein aa gaya. I had never seen such glamour, so much media, live telecast games. Suddenly expectations went high and I forgot that these are the moments to enjoy and not to think too much. I was just shaky during India’s under-19 games. I let everyone down, Dravid sir ko bhi. He trusted me and I never gave the result,” he reveals.

“There is no point in feeling shaky. Go work on your strengths. Do your homework. Run karoge toh bada kheloge,” Ishan recalls the master telling him.

The Ranji season on a sloppy note against Maharashtra, and it was then a word of advice from MS Dhoni changed his attitude. Like Dhoni, the Jharkhand lad has also earned a good reputation for his aggressive batting displays. Dhoni came in as mentor for Jharkhand for the initial games and there he told Ishan that to score big, one has to cut his shots initially.

“Bada run karne ke liye, starting ke innings mein shot cut karna zaroori hai. Let those 20 runs come from mehnat. And once set, a batsman can pace it up,” Dhoni told Ishan.

The chat with Dhoni then saw him smash scores of an unbeaten 159 against a strong Karnataka bowling attack, 273 against Delhi when Jharkhand was 4 for 80 and 136 against Saurashtra. People might be in awe of his batting but Ishan demands more consistency of himself. In two years’ time he wants to be full ‘paka hua’ player — ripe and ready. Now after everything, he has not let Dravid down. The India Under-19 coach once had told Ishan that he has enough talent and if he doesn’t deliver he will not feel nice.

The next five days will be a testing time for Ishan and Jharkhand. His side came in on the back of a superb run in this Ranji Trophy. They have five outright wins and have surpassed teams like Karnataka to reach the top spot with 39 points. Jharkhand was the only team last season to qualify for all tournaments but won none. The next five days in Moti bagh will see Jharkhand trying to outplay Haryana and try to better their record in knock-out stages. For Jharkhand’s Tiwary, he will just hope, his small dynamite bursts at the right time once again.