India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour has put his weight behind Ishan Kishan, who was dismissed for a golden duck in the opening fixture against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday. With Shubman Gill ruled out of the Afghanistan clash, Kishan will get another opportunity at the top of the order.

Kishan was dismissed without opening his account when he flashed hard at a swinging delivery from Mitchell Starc but could only get an outside edge to first slip, Cameron Green.

In fact, Kishan has the experience of opening the innings in the past and Rathour backed the left-hander to come good in the clash against Afghanistan.

“He has opened in the past. He has played as an opener. No specific discussions on that. He understands that was one of the reasons he is in the team. We know that he can bat both in the top-order and in the middle-order. So I mean, he has done that before. No specific discussions, but I am hoping that he comes good,” Rathour was quoted as saying in the pre-match press conference.

Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer, batting at number four, was also dismissed for a duck against Australia while playing a rash shot. KL Rahul, on the other hand, continued his rich vein of form as he scored an unbeaten 97 under pressure while playing at number five.

When asked if there is any temptation to swap Iyer and Rahul’s position in the middle order, Rathour said, “Not at the moment, he is doing really well at No. 5 and Shreyas Iyer has done really well at No.4. So really, there are no temptations.”

India will want both Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer to play maturely as both of them had played poor shots against Australia and their dismissals had put the team under pressure.