Will Sai Kishore’s Talent Finally Meet The Opportunity It Deserves?

When you are born in India, you just don’t fight your circumstances to rise to the top. You might have to trump many others like you who have suffered quite a bit to reach at that level, and then only you can allow yourself a smidgen of a chance to be noticed and appreciated. The cream rises to the top, but the path isn’t linear and clean. 

The case of cricket in India is even more extreme. Recently, the Indian men’s team played four spinners in the final 11 during the ICC Champions Trophy which India won. A fifth spinning option was also available to them if they wished to. 

International teams are lucky to have two really good international-quality spinners in their white-ball sides. India had five, and Sai Kishore and many others weren’t even near the team. 

But you might be wondering here why Sai Kishore is being singled out. Why is he so special? Aren’t there the likes of Manav Suthar, Shams Mulani or even the new Vidarbha star Harsh Dubey already ahead of the Tamil Nadu left-arm spinner in the picking order?

With Rashid Khan averaging 112 with the ball this season so far, the Gujarat Titans were in dire need of some other spinner rising through their ranks, and Sai Kishore has done exactly that so far by picking six wickets in three games so far at an economy of just 7.4 and is averaging just 14.8 runs/wicket. Only Noor Ahmad and Kuldeep Yadav have better or comparable numbers with him at this early stage in the tournament. 

However, this small sample size isn’t why the hype is gradually building around Tamil Nadu’s skipper. The reason is the variety of skills he has shown so far in the season which makes him stand out despite playing on some not-so-conducive-for-spin pitches. 

Against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy, Sai Kishore bowled a carrom ball (a new variation) to left-handed Krunal Pandya, who was flummoxed by the delivery that turned slightly into him rather than turn away from over the wicket. That was enough for him to lose his wicket. Moreover, he has targeted the stumps quite a bit this season and has mixed his variations quite well. 

If you look back at his bowling footage from the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), you will find that he has the skills to bowl in the powerplay and at the death. 

In the TNPL, he uses his ability to drift the ball into the right-handers by using the ball's seam in the powerplay. When you combine the movement he generates along with his height (196 cms) and arm angle, it becomes really awkward to line him up unless he bowls a bad ball and gives either width or bowls it full. As a result, he has picked 18 of his 78 wickets in the TNPL in the first six overs, where he gives just 5.9 runs/over on average. That’s gold dust for a spinner! 

In fact, Sai Kishore has similar numbers in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well. He’s picked 62 wickets in 56 innings, averaging just 18.4 at an economy of 5.6. 

The 28-year-old who bowls left-arm orthodox is anything but an orthodox spinner. He swings the new ball, he dips the old one, he turns it away to the right handers even from over the wicket, and he can play carrom on a cricket pitch. Not only that, but he can do all these things better than most other spinners in the country. 

So, you see how the problem of plenty has affected Sai Kishore’s career? If only it was just that, he would have found a way to still shine through like he has in this IPL season. In the last two years or so, despite playing for India in the Asian Games in China where he made an India T20I debut, injuries and lack of opportunities have hurt his career more than most other things. 

In 2024, after he took a 4/33 against Punjab Kings in the IPL, he injured his neck playing golf. What could have been a great season and probably a build-up to something even bigger was cut shot was a freak happenstance. 

Post that, he spent the next two months in the National Cricket Academy (NCA), which hampered his selection chances for the India A team as well, with the likes of Mulani and Suthar being preferred over him in the red ball game. Then came the Duleep Trophy, where he didn’t get much to bowl. Now, eventually, after a long domestic season, he finally has got the ball talking in the IPL as the opportunity came to him. 

In fact, it’s the way Sai Kishore keeps coming from these setbacks in his career that makes him stand out. If you want to see the tenacity of his spirit and the intensity of his play, just look at his staring contest with Hardik Pandya in the game against Mumbai Indians this season. The 28-year old from Tamil Nadu had no qualms in staring at India’s star player after making it extremely difficult for him to score a boundary. Pandya eventually succumbed after a sub-par knock, and Sai Kishore spun GT to victory. 

It is this kind of passion that makes one believe that he is India material. After Ravindra Jadeja’s ouster from the T20I side post-retirement, there’s a space for a left-arm spinner in the side. With Axar Patel playing like a proper all-rounder and batting in the top seven, opportunities can come to Sai Kishore if India decide to go spin-heavy or if anyone amongst Kuldeep Yadav or Varun Chakaravarthy are injured. 

He has more variations and upsides as a spinner than someone like Washington Sundar, whose bowling style isn’t replete with mystery and variations like Sai Kishore’s bowling. While his batting skills are not at an all-rounder level in international cricket, he certainly offers India an actual left-field option to go with — a tall left-arm spinner who can bowl in all phases of the game, can turn the ball, and has a lot of variations and guile. 

The IPL’s motto is “where talent meets opportunity.” Finally, it’s time for Sai Kishore’s skills to get the stage they deserve. Otherwise, in the already-existing crowd, India will miss the chance to play an extremely exciting, spirited and tenacious left-arm spinner with a unique set of talents.