Little man, big power: Kishan steps into Rohit's shoes and makes Kohli play second fiddle

When Ishan Kishan was on 95, he wanted to get to his hundred in style - by hitting a six - just like Virender Sehwag used to do in his playing days. But at the non-striker's end was Virat Kohli, the 71-century veteran (now 72) and here was Kishan waiting for his maiden hundred. Kohli calmed him down and told Kishan to take it easy as it would be his first hundred in international cricket. 

Kishan paid heed to his senior partner and calmly went about his business to reach his hundred. But that attitude really sums up what Ishan Kishan is like as a cricketer. Fearless. Audacious. Full of energy. 

Chances don't come easy when you're an Indian top-order batter. You cannot look beyond the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. Kishan too understands it well. "I cannot ask [the selectors] to drop Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul and pick me," he said earlier this year. They are this big.

This opportunity against Bangladesh wouldn't have come had Rohit Sharma not sustained an injury during the second ODI. It was a big shoe to fill. But the way Kishan filled the Rohit Sharma-sized hole with utter conviction was magnificent and sometimes breathtaking. 

Sachin Tendulkar. Virender Sehwag. Rohit Sharma. Martin Guptill. Chris Gayle. Fakhar Zaman. These are really big names. To make it into such a short list of ODI double centurions in just his 10th ODI takes special talent. Even Kishan himself felt "blessed" to see his name among those greats. At one stage, it looked like he would break Rohit's record of 264. But the southpaw played like he didn't care for records. He kept going. He was really firing on all cylinders. 

After getting to the first hundred off 85 balls, the second one came off just 41. The double hundred off 126 deliveries was comfortably the fastest in ODIs. And he is the youngest to achieve the feat. His 210 off 131 is also the highest individual score against Bangladesh and also in Bangladesh. And it is also the highest ODI score by an Indian away from home. Look at the names whose records he bettered - Chris Gayle, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Shane Watson, Sourav Ganguly. 

He made someone like Virat Kohli almost a spectator. In the 290-run partnership, Kohli contributed to only 29% of the runs. But the bigger role in the partnership of Kohli was to guide Kishan. "He was spot on with which bowler I needed to select to target," he said about Kohli. And it's evident when we break down his innings. 

He went at about 10 runs per over against Taskin Ahmed, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Ebadot Hossain. He went after Shakib too, clearing his front leg multiple times in T20 style. But most notably, a lot of his boundaries were square of the wicket on either side. The pacers were guilty of giving him too much width and the ones on the body didn't rear up much and those calypso pull shots were routine business for him.

Just a few months ago, Mumbai Indians broke the bank for him, signing him for a whopping Rs 15.25 Cr in the IPL 2022. He had a mixed tournament and at times his struggle against high pace was painstaking. Mumbai Indians fans on social media criticised the franchise for spending "too much" on him.

Later he was left out of the T20I set-up (despite good form) for obvious reasons - his inexperience in Australia, and exposed technique against high pace. In T20s, he has been an "all-or-nothing" sort of batter. When he gets going, he is an absolute maverick. But he struggles inelegantly often as well. But in ODIs, there is time to get your eye in. 

In his second last ODI prior to this series, Kishan didn't have a great start. He was on 29 off 45 but eventually finished with 93 off just 84. Today again, he got to his fifty off 50 balls but once he got the feel of the pitch, he was unstoppable. Old-fashioned openers would look to wait till maybe the 35-over mark to really go all guns blazing. But Kishan, by the end of the 35th over, had reached his double hundred. This very approach of Kishan can add a new dimension to the Indian batting line-up if given regular opportunities.

Shikhar Dhawan has been one of the vital cogs in the wheel for India at the top of the order but of late, his strike rate hasn't been up to the mark. Across 22 innings, he has struck at only 74.2 this year and the average is also under 35. He last scored a hundred more than three years ago. With the next World Cup happening in India in 2023, someone like Kishan - who looks to accelerate earlier than others do - is a great option to have. 

Kishan lost his place to the senior players in both the white-ball formats. Even after a brilliant 93 against South Africa, he didn't find a place in the next series until Rohit got injured. Even after a record-breaking double hundred, his place in a full-strength Indian batting line-up is not guaranteed.

But Kishan is a positive person. After being axed from the T20I team, he said, "The selectors must have seen some shortcomings in my game and that's why I am not in the team." He vowed to work harder on those and come back stronger. 

Now, in that 93 against South Africa and 210 against Bangladesh, he showed that he has the game to be an ODI match-winner. He stepped up in Rohit's absence, made Kohli play second fiddle and reminded everyone of Sehwag with a positive approach. Will another wicketkeeper-batter from Jharkhand (after MS Dhoni) touch great heights in international cricket? Only time has the answer but Kishan has certainly announced himself as a player who is ready to challenge the norms and create his own template.