Two-time World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir tore into India opener Ishan Kishan for his poor display against New Zealand in the ongoing T20I series.

Highlighting Ishan Kishan's problems against quality spin, Gautam Gambhir said that the young left-hander must learn to handle bowlers who can turn the ball, or else his days in the national team could be numbered.

 

Against the Kiwis, Ishan Kishan has failed miserably, falling to Michael Bracewell for 4 runs off 5 deliveries in the first match of the three-game series in Ranchi. After the Men in Blue lost the first T20I, the India opener made an unimpressive 19 off 32 balls before getting run out in a silly manner. But more than his run-out, his inability to tackle the turning ball, became a topic of hot debate, yet again.

“It's not only one chink in his armor. Indian unit as a batting unit has struggled against spin. Just the ability to not be able to maneuver..it's easy to hit those big sixes but the ability to rotate strikes consistently. And there was enough purchase for spinners as well. It was pretty much evident when you got Michael Bracewell against Ishan Kishan,” Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports.

“I think these young players need to learn quickly how to rotate strike because, on a wicket like this, it's not gonna be easy to go down the ground and hit those big sixes. It's a surprise because of the way he batted in Bangladesh after scoring that double-hundred. He has struggled after that, everyone thought his graph will start growing up with the kind of innings he has played,” Gautam Gambhir added.

“He still has to work a lot against playing spin because people will use a lot of spin against him in the first 6 overs. Because he still manages to play fast bowling very well. The sooner he improves against spin, the better it's gonna be for him, especially in the T20 format,” Gautam Gambhir concluded.

Before slamming Ishan Kishan, Gautam Gambhir ripped into India captain Hardik Pandya for not using Yuzvendra Chahal's full quota of overs in the second T20I against New Zealand in Lucknow on Sunday.

“Chahal is your No.1 spinner in the T20 format. Asking him to bowl only two overs where he got the wicket of Finn Allen and not using his quota of four overs makes no sense to me. Yes you want to give chances to young guys line Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Mavi. But then you could have bowled Chahal in the last or second-last over,” Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports.

“For me, Hardik missed a trick as Chahal could have helped India bowl New Zealand for around 80-85. On this kind of a wicket, you don’t want to let the opposition off the hook. But then again, I was surprised after Deepak Hooda was asked to bowl four overs and not Chahal,” Gautam Gambhir explained.

The pitch at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow was a slow-turner and even part-time spinners were gripping the ball by a fair deal.

Against this backdrop, Hardik Pandya’s tactic of handing Yuzvendra Chahal the ball for only two overs, especially when the latter had given the Men in Blue their first breakthrough with the wicket of Finn Allen in the fourth over, wasn’t appreciated.

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Moreover, Yuzvendra Chahal was the most economical bowler in the clash, going for only four runs in his two overs.

Despite such outstanding figures, Hardik Pandya chose to complete his four overs and didn’t bring Yuzvendra Chahal back for a second spell.

The Gujarat-born cricketer's move was also panned by former India cricketer Aakash Chopra who said that Hardik Pandya missed a trick by not bringing back Yuzvendra Chahal into the attack.

“Only spin was on, from both sides. Even the spiders don't spin the web as much, that was the story. Both sides wanted to bat first. The Indian team made a change – played Yuzi Chahal in place of Umran Malik,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“The pitch was turning so much but still, Yuzi bowled only two overs. He conceded just four runs in his two overs and picked up one wicket. The opposition could score only 99 runs. The ball started turning from the first ball and we asked why was it spinning so much,” Aakash Chopra added.

“There was a question there. You got [Deepak] Hooda, Washi [Washington Sundar] and Kuldeep [Yadav] to bowl. You could have got Chahal also to bowl his full quota of overs. I feel it should have been done. Fast bowlers – of course, Hardik [Pandya] bowled his full overs, Shivam Mavi and Arshdeep [Singh] also couldn't bowl their full overs,” Aakash Chopra opined.