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In the past few months, Ishan Kishan has been making headlines. Kishan asked for time off and returned to India midway through the South Africa tour. He made himself unavailable for the home T20I series against Afghanistan and Test series against England. Then he skipped Jharkhand’s Ranji Trophy games and prepared for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 by playing in the DY Patil T20 tournament. In his first recognised match in nearly four months, he was dismissed for a four-ball duck by debutant Afghan pace-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai.
Omarzai opened the bowling for Shubman Gill's Gujarat Titans (GT). He started with an inswinging yorker which was defended by Kishan. On the next ball, he was hit on the pad by a delivery that was going down the leg side. Kishan failed to get his bat on the ball again as it hit his pad. Then Omarzai got the ball to swing away and Kishan went for a shot away from his body. The top-edge carried to Wriddhiman Saha who took a regulation catch.
Omarzai's powerplay spell
Omarzai was exceptional with the new ball. He was attacked by debutant Naman Dhir in the second over. He hit three fours and a six before getting out lbw with a short-of-the-length delivery which stayed low and skidded onto the thigh pad. In the three overs he bowled in powerplay overs, he picked up two wickets and conceded 27 runs.
Omarzai's cameo
Omarzai was sent in to bat at no.4 in the eighth over. He hit debutant Naman Dhir for a four in the 10th over. Against veteran leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, he smashed a six. He fell to on-debut South African pacer Gerald Coetzee who bowled a cross-seam 145.8 kmph delivery which fell into Tilak Varma's hands at deep square leg. He departed for a 11-ball 17 cameo.
MI beat GT
On Gill's IPL captaincy debut, hosts GT beat five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) by six runs in a last-over thriller. Apart from Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Spencer Johnson, and Mohit Sharma took two wickets each.
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