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Cricket fans reacted to Indian wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan's cheeky act against New Zealand stand-in skipper Tom Latham on Wednesday, January 18. It was their first ODI in the three-match series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
The incident happened in the 16th over while New Zealand were chasing a mammoth score of 350 in the second innings. Latham arrived at the crease after Kuldeep Yadav cleaned up Henry Nicholls on 18.
As Latham faced his first ball, Kishan cheekily dislodged the bails from behind the wickets. The Indian fielders appealed for the possibility of a hit wicket. Replays suggested that Latham went back in the crease to defend with a close bat face. There was no chance of either bat or body coming close to the stumps anywhere.
It seemed like Ishan deliberately took the bails off as a gesture of banter and the player wore a witty smile on his face.
During the Indian innings, Latham was himself involved in a couple of strange appeals. One of them resulted in Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya's dismissal as bowled even though the video clips indicated that Latham's gloves had dislodged the bails.
Latham got a taste of his own medicine as he appealed for a hit wicket against double-centurion Shubman Gill in the very next over after Hardik's wicket.
Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, however, wasn't happy with the Indian keeper's gesture of giving Latham a befitting response. He felt the player could have joked with the Kiwi skipper rather than appealing for dismissal.
Here's how fans reacted on Twitter to Kishan's cheeky act:
New Zealand lose wickets in a 350-run chase
The visitors lost Devon Conway in the powerplay overs as Kuldeep Yadav took a brilliant catch off Mohammed Siraj's bowling. Finn Allen (40) and Henry Nicholls (18) played some great shots in the powerplay to maximize the scoring rate before Allen was dismissed in the 12th over.
Kuldeep got the wickets of Nicholls and Dary Mitchell in back-to-back overs as New Zealand were reduced to 89/4 inside 18 overs.
Mohammed Shami then sent Glenn Phillips back to the pavilion before Siraj got Latham out.
