He was going slightly ahead of a run-a-ball

Former India player Aakash Chopra has opined that Ishan Kishan played a slow knock in the second T20I against England. He pointed out that the wicketkeeper-batter scored at slightly more than a run-a-ball and should have stayed until the end of the innings to make up for it.

Kishan scored 49 runs off 40 balls as India set England a 191-run target in Manchester on Saturday, July 4. Harry Brook and company then achieved the target with four wickets and an over to spare.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India batter noted that both Kishan and Jacob Bethell scored at virtually the same strike rate in the first 30-odd balls of their innings.

“When Ishan Kishan was batting, he was going slightly ahead of a run-a-ball. The truth is that his knock and Jacob Bethell’s knock were almost equal till 30-odd balls. There wasn’t a massive difference. The problem with this strike rate is that you have to stay till the end,” he said.

Chopra added that while Kishan didn’t stay long enough to make up for his slow start, Bethell ensured that England won the game.

“Go after winning the match, and if you are batting first, finish in such a big way that you cover when you played slowly. That didn’t happen. Ishan got out, but Jacob Bethell didn’t. He batted beautifully,” he observed.

Ishan Kishan scored 38 runs off his first 32 balls, and managed only 11 runs off the final eight deliveries he faced. Jacob Bethell scored 36 runs off his first 32 balls, but smashed 40 runs off the next 14 deliveries he faced.

“We should have scored a bit more” – Aakash Chopra on India’s total in ENG vs IND 2026 2nd T20I

While praising Tilak Varma and Shreyas Iyer for playing impressive knocks, Aakash Chopra opined that India should have posted a bigger total.

“Tilak Varma was very good towards the end. He ran at a strike rate of over 200. Shreyas Iyer played a decent hand, but I still felt, considering the kind of pitch it was and with one side being short and the wind blowing in that direction, we should have scored a bit more,” he said in the same video.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the visitors should have scored around 210 runs after their explosive start.

“If you have scored 65 runs in six overs, you have to look towards 210. However, we couldn’t reach there. This is happening. We aren’t scoring as many runs as we should score. We made a change in batting, but the story is the same,” Chopra observed.

While Tilak Varma remained unbeaten on an 11-ball 24, Shreyas Iyer scored 37 runs off 22 balls. However, India scored only 81 runs between the seventh and the 16th over, which potentially cost them the game.