Ishan Kishan from Mumbai Indians came under scrutiny yet again following a lackluster display against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Match 67 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The final league clash for both teams this season unfolded at Mumbais Wankhede Stadium.
In pursuit of 215, the home team started with a different pairing: Rohit Sharma and Dewald Brevis. It definitely worked, as the pair scored 88 runs in fewer than nine overs before Brevis (23) was bowled. Suryakumar (0) continued his poor performance in the next over.
Rohit (68 off 38), who seemed in fantastic form, was trapped at short third-man while attempting to improve the team’s tempo. Then, Hardik Pandya (16) started brightly but unable to turn it into a significant knock.
Ishan Kishan entered the game at No. 4 and struggled to find his timing. Aside from striking a single boundary, the southpaw attempted to smash the ball too aggressively, losing his shape and eventually being bowled by Naveen-ul-Haq on 14 off 15. Then, Naman Dhir (62* off 28) made an outstanding performance, but MI fell short by 18 runs.
Fans on X had a wholly negative reaction to Kishan’s knock, blaming him for a dismal season and even suggesting he play county cricket to regain his form.
Check out these reactions:
Few supporters have singled out Ishan Kishan’s failure to contribute in the middle order, and they believe it will be a long time before they see the left-hander in an India shirt again.
“It doesn’t make any sense sending ishan kishan at no 4 he doesn’t have the ability to rotate the strike in the middle overs reason why he lost his place in the national team,” one fan said.
“I think Ishan Kishan just played his last match for MI and India as well. It’s going to be very long wait for him to play again for India,” another noted.
This fan blasted Kishan for not justifying his expensive price tag:
“Ishan Kishan is supposed to be one of the senior batters in this side and right now he is playing a knock of a tailender. One of the biggest blunders we ever made at the auction table.”
Overall, Kishan scored 320 runs at an average of 22.86 in 14 innings, with a high of 69.
MI vs LSG: Super Giants finish with 14 points in IPL 2024
The Lucknow-based franchise batted first in this match and got off to a shaky start, losing Dedutt Padikkal (0) early. However, KL Rahul (55) and Marcus Stoinis (28) helped the squad by demonstrating positive intent.
The entry of Nicholas Pooran altered the trajectory of the game, as he went all out to drive LSG at an exorbitant cost. The Caribbean batsman hit 75 off 28 balls to push LSG to 214. Nuwan Thushara and Piyush Chawla each took three wickets for MI.
In response, Mumbai were limited to 196 runs, with Ravi Bishnoi and Naveen-ul-Haq taking two wickets each to enable LSG win by 18 runs.
Lucknow has 14 points, but their net run rate of -0.667 will prevent them from qualifying for the IPL 2024 playoffs.