IND vs SA: Ishan Kishan hands special fan note to Shardul Thakur after team's comfortable win in 2nd ODI

Despite missing out on a well-deserved century, India’s wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan was in a light mood after India defeated South Africa by 7 wickets in the second ODI of the series at Ranchi. Following their win, the 24-year-old interacted with many fans in his home city and one of them handed Kishan a special note for pacer Shardul Thakur.

Shardul Thakur who picked up one wicket in the match was later spotted clicking a picture with the note which read his name and jersey number with a heart. The official Twitter account of the BCCI shared the video of Ishan’s interaction with the fans and how Shardul reacted after receiving the note.

Fan interactions with local lad @ishankishan51 👏👏

P.S. - Also, Ishan delivers a special fan note to @imShard ☺️👌 #TeamIndia | #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/6DWYVmNohh

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 9, 2022

I'm so proud of the young boys for showing such maturity: Shikhar Dhawan

In what was a must-win game for India, the Men in Blue backed themselves and picked up an important win over the Proteas. Even after losing two early wickets of Shubman Gill and Shikhar Dhawan, the young guns showed character and a partnership of 161 runs between Ishan Kishan (93) and Shreyas Iyer (113*) helped the team make a solid comeback in the series.

Batting first, South Africa posted 278 in 50-overs. Reeza Hendricks (74) and Aiden Markram (79) played brilliantly in the middle but the young Indian bowlers didn’t give any space for them to capitalise. Just when the duo was set to unleash themselves, Mohammed Siraj and Washington Sundar dismissed the respective cricketers. Even after having enough firepower in the middle, Heinrich Klassen and David Miller couldn’t get going as Indian bowlers nailed it towards the end of the match.

Youngster Shahbaz Ahmed who made his debut in the second ODI of the match was asked to bowl in the powerplay and he did a fantastic job. The debutant picked up the wicket of Janneman Malan and gave away 54 runs in his 10 overs. Shikhar Dhawan was very impressed with his performance and lauded him after the match.

“I am very pleased with the bowlers, especially Shahbaz, the way he bowled in the first ten overs and got us the breakthrough. All the young boys, I'm so proud that they showed so much maturity.,” the 36-year-old said in the post-match presentation.