I Missed My Hundred, But...: Ishan Kishan Speaks On His 93 Run Knock Against South Africa In Ranchi

The left-hander missed out on his maiden International century by just seven runs.

Ishan Kishan during the match against South Africa.

Source : PTI

The Men in Blue under the captaincy of Shikhar Dhawan outplayed South Africa at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi. Brilliant knocks from Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer helped the Indian team to beat the Proteas on Sunday. 

After the match, Jharkhand-based batter Ishan Kishan attended a post-match conference and said, "We always try to learn. Whenever we do feel, we can brush aside our mistakes but with the standard of cricket we are playing, we have to learn a lot. On the days we play well, we analyze our mistakes and try to find out how we can get better. I missed my hundred, but 93 was also good in terms of contributing to the team. You feel bad when you miss a hundred, but next time when I am in a similar situation, I will try to not miss the hundred”.

"When it comes to rotating the strike, some players have their strength as rotating the strike. Some players have strength in hitting big shots. Not many people can hit sixes like me, I can do that easily. Hitting sixes is my strength, when I can go about doing my job through big shots, I do not think about rotating the strike then. There would be times when I would be required to rotate the strike, so practice for that is also paramount. But if the ball is there, and my strength is hitting six, so I should not force myself to rotate the strike," he added.

The left-hander missed out on his maiden International century by just seven runs.

"Rotation is important in today's cricket. The thought does come to your mind, that 'I'm seven runs from a hundred and I should get there through singles'. But I have never played my cricket like that. If the ball is there, I go after it. I never go into that zone where I am thinking just about my runs. If I am playing for India, and I am thinking about my runs, then I am letting the fans down."

After missing out on the spot in the T20 World Cup squad, Kishan said: "Obviously you feel bad when you are not part of the squad for a big tournament, if you make your team there, it is a proud feeling. But I think there would be some areas where I would be lacking and the selectors and coaches would have spotted those. I also feel improvement can be done and I know I can get a lot better."

"I know this is my best performance, I can do better. There are a lot of players in our main team who are in good form. I will wait for my time, and it is about me having that self-belief whenever I get that opportunity," he added.