IND vs WI: "Area Of Concern..." - RP Singh Slams India Openers Shubman Gill And Ishan Kishan

Former India National Cricket Team left-arm pacer RP Singh has lashed out at the young openers Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan for their poor outings in the ongoing five-match T20I series against West Indies National Cricket Team.

India have lost back-to-back T20Is against West Indies and are 0-2 down in the series. One of the key reasons behind India’s poor show in the series has been the failure of the top-order batsmen. Openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill added just 5 runs in 14 balls in the first T20I and 16 runs in 17 balls in the second T20I.

During a discussion on JioCinema, RP Singh said that Kishan and Gill’s poor form is an area of concern for the side. He said:

“I feel the opening pair’s batting should be a slight area of concern for the Indian batting lineup. The way they are batting, they are not exhibiting that much confidence. The opening pair will have to analyze their game a little more.”

The wicketkeeper-batter Kishan has scored 6 and 27 in two games while his opening partner Gill has registered the scores of 3 and 7.

Both batters are unable to connect the ball properly – RP Singh on Indian openers

Singh further highlighted that the Indian openers struggled out in the middle in the second T20I and both of them failed miserably to time the ball properly. He said:

“If we talk about Shubman Gill, he played some shots where he probably didn’t see the ball’s line at all and got beaten. He tried to hit straight with hard hands and the ball went over point.

“Ishan Kishan tries to hit the ball very hard. But both batters are unable to connect the ball properly. The powerplay didn’t go that well for us. We couldn’t score runs and lost wickets as well. The confidence to move your feet and play the drive was also not seen.”

Former India pacer RP Singh also expressed his disappointment over Sanju Samson’s performance in the T20I series where he has registered scores of 7 and 12. He also believes that skipper Hardik Pandya has changed his approach and is trying to take extra responsibility. He elaborated:

“Sanju Samson also got an opportunity here but he couldn’t do anything special. Tilak Varma batted well and ultimately he also got out to a left-arm spinner. I feel Hardik Pandya has changed his game.

“He is probably trying to take a little more responsibility and stay till the end so that he can play the big shots in the 19th or 20th over, but he is not reaching there. Axar Patel also couldn’t do anything special.”