“When we are in the middle of our cricket routines, we don’t even think we’re competing with each other,”- Ishan Kishan on comparison with Rishabh Pant

In the Under-19 World Cup 2016, Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant played together for India. And now, both of them are the regular faces in the senior men’s Team.

After the U-19 World Cup 2016, Rishabh Pant broke into the scene at the highest level earlier as compared to Ishan Kishan. At present Rishabh Pant is India’s first preference as a wicket-keeper batsman in all three formats. While Ishan Kishan is still in the grooming phase having played just 3 ODIs, and 8 T20Is for India at the highest level.

After the mega auction in 2022, both of them are on the list of highest-paid players for the upcoming IPL where Ishan Kishan is bought by Mumbai Indians for 15.25 crores and Rishabh Pant is retained by Delhi Capitals for 16 crores.

For Ishan Kishan, the 2020 IPL was the best season for him where he played a very crucial in making Mumbai Indians win the championship. After which he got an opportunity to represent India. Currently, in 11 games, he had played for India he hasn’t performed to the standard which he has set.

He has scored a fifty in each of the two formats so far and got an extended run in the recent T20I series against West Indies. His performance was below par in the T20I series as he scored just 71 runs in three innings at an average of around 23 and a strike rate of below 100.

Recently, Ishan has shared his views on his ‘competitor’ Rishabh Pant for the wicketkeeper slot in the Indian limited-overs side.

Never once has it crossed my mind that I want his place and I can assure you, that’s been the case with him too.- Ishan Kishan

He said “Oh yes, he’s [Rishabh Pant] a very good friend. Whenever both of us are around, you’ll find us hanging out a lot with each other. We just keep watching movies whenever we find the time. We also talk a lot about cricket with each other about the game, what could’ve been done differently. I speak my mind with him, and he does the same. Never once has it crossed my mind that I want his place and I can assure you, that’s been the case with him too. And most importantly, when we are in the middle of our cricket routines, we don’t even think we’re competing with each other,”

“When you have a good competition going with a talented player, there’s great fun to it too. You begin to realize those important things all by yourself-play good cricket and everything else will take care of itself. I love wicket-keeping so whenever an opportunity comes, I’ll try and give it my best,”