Ishan Kishan scored just one run off the 20 balls he faced in his first Test knock before Rohit Sharma declared the innings, seemingly unimpressed by his scoring rate on day three of the first West Indies-India Test match in Dominica.
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By Lunch on day three, India had reached 400-4, taking a big lead of 250 runs. All eyes were on the scoring rate of the India batters after the break as they eyed a possible declaration before having a crack at the hosts.
However, the slow nature of the Dominica surface coupled with the turn and bounce on offer has proved to be a bane for run-scoring in this Test, and it continued on day three as well as Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja found it hard to get going.
Kohli was soon dismissed by Rahkeem Cornwall, bringing debutant Ishan Kishan to the crease. Kishan is known to be an explosive batter, having made his name in the Indian Premier League. He started his ODI career with a six off his first ball and holds the record for the fastest double century in the format.
With India in a dominant position, some fireworks were expected off Kishan, but even he couldn’t trump the slowness of the pitch on offer. In fact, he couldn’t get going at all, contrary to expectations.
The first 19 balls he faced ended up being dot balls when India would have wanted quick runs. India captain Rohit Sharma looked displeased, dressed in whites ready to lead India in the field. He gestured towards the batters in the middle, from the dressing room, making an ‘X’ with his arms as if to say, ‘stop scoring slowly’ then shrugged as if asking them, “What is going on?” When Kishan finally got off the mark off his twentieth delivery, tucking a back-of-length ball off his hip for a single, the India captain had had enough, and declared immediately.
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Both Kishan’s innings and Rohit’s subsequent gestures and declaration drew several reactions from people watching. Samuel Badree, who was on air when West Indies’ second innings began, was not convinced that Kishan’s innings was a poor one, given it was his debut.
Badree said, “It is going to take some convincing to convince me to go on my first innings in Test match cricket and have fun. Treat that as sacred. If anything, Ishan Kishan is quite pleased with that red dot after his first Test match innings.”
There were several reactions on social media as well, with people claiming it was the first time they had seen a declaration getting delayed to accommodate the first career runs of a debutant.
Kishan Bhai opens his account in test cricket and then declaration.
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) July 14, 2023
Been watching this sport for a while but I have never seen a declaration being delayed for a batter to get off the mark on his debut
— Prithvi (@Puneite_) July 14, 2023
Did Rohit just express his displeasure at Kishan’s defensive batting?
— Shashank Kishore (@captainshanky) July 14, 2023
