Former Indian national cricket team opening batsman Gautam Gambhir said that 25-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan needs to improve his game against spin bowling if the team wants him to bat at No. 5 in ODI cricket.

Gautam Gambhir feels that Ishan Kishan needs to improve his game against spinners if he has to play as a middle-order batsman for India in the upcoming World Cup.

Kishan, along with KL Rahul, is one of the two wicketkeeper-batsmen in India's preliminary 15-man squad for the global event being played at home. With Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill likely to feature for the Men in Blue, the left-hander may have to line up in the middle order if he wants to grab a place in the playing XI.

Speaking on media after the continental tournament, Gambhir said that Kishan looks like a completely different batter at the start of the innings and that he needs to make a lot of improvements if he wants to become a proper middle-order batter.

“If you think about him at No. 5, he needs to step up his game. When he opened in the finale, a completely different Ishan Kishan was seen. If you go to the middle order and an off-spinner is bowling, I agree that you can bowl freely if you are at 200/3.

“But if you’re 50/3, can you rotate the shot? You still have time to improve that before the World Cup because the second half of the season that we saw against Bangladesh clearly showed that you are not that comfortable against spin, especially off-spin,” Gambhir said.

Gambhir further said that a batsman playing at the No. 5 position will mainly face spin bowling during the World Cup and Kishan has his weakness when facing spinners. According to the former India opener, the No. 5 position in the Indian ODI team is currently the only controversial spot.

“You will be able to play spin at the World Cup if you play at No. 5. So that is the only questionable number for me, whether you will see Ishan Kishan playing at No. 5 if Shreyas Iyer is fit." However, if Shreyas Iyer is not fit, you only have to support Ishan Kishan unless you support Ravindra Jadeja (to move up the order) and play against Suryakumar Yadav at No. 7,” Gautam Gambhir said.

“I don't think that will happen. So if Ishan batted better against spin at No. 5, you would have more or less your entire batting order and playing XI covered.”

With the Asia Cup completed and decided, India's next assignment is a three-match ODI series against Australia to be played on September 22, 24 and 27. After the series, India will take part in the premier ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 home.