After being decimated by Pakistan‘s left-arm pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi in their T20 World Cup opener, India brought in southpaw Ishan Kishan to negate the threat from Trent Boult in the all-important clash against New Zealand on Sunday. 

However, the tactic did not quite work according to plan, with the youngster dismissed early in the innings by his Mumbai Indians teammate after a slow start. 

Replacing another MI teammate Suryakumar Yadav, who was forced out with a lower back spasm, Kishan struggled to make a mark on his debut T20 World Cup appearance, scoring just four runs from eight balls. 

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Kishan, who impressed with a 46-ball 70 against England in India’s first warm-up game, had a scare in the first over when he missed his flick on a Boult outswinger, which crashed into his pads. However, the angle posed enough doubt in the umpire’s head to not lift the finger. 

In the third over, Kishan drove on the up to dispatch a fullish delivery from Boult to the mid-wicket boundary in a sign of confidence that would have encouraged the dressing room as well as fans. However, two dots later, the 23-year-old flicked another full-length delivery straight to Daryl Mitchell at deep backward square.

India had another big scare in the very next delivery, as Rohit Sharma compulsively pulled a short delivery from Boult to pick out Adam Milne at fine leg, where his MI teammate dropped a sitter. 

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and put India to bat in a virtual quarter-final match, as the loser will have very slim chances of making the semifinals with Pakistan having nearly sealed one of the spots. 

India made two changes for the match, with Shardul Thakur replacing the  out-of-sorts Bhuvneshwar Kumar apart from Yadav making way for Kishan. 

New Zealand made just one change, with Tim Seifert replaced by Milne.