‘’Never seen a shot like it!’’ was Steve Smith’s response to Kyle Mayers’ exquisite lofted backfoot punch in the first T20I between Australia and West Indies on the Gold Coast in 2022. He parked his front foot aside to create room, engaged his core to transfer the weight behind, lifted his toes up to ride the bounce and hoisted the length ball from Cameron Green over cover with his powerful top hand. Boundary dimensions leave Australian venues on the other end of the spectrum as compared to the Holkar Stadium in Indore, but even if you steal the thunder from the replica produced by Ankush Singh, it remains a crackerjack nonetheless.
Milked for a six on the first ball of the innings, Vineet Rawat was flabbergasted, and so was each and every witness of the upper-decker maximum. Sadly, that uninhibited flamboyance had to take a back seat in the interest of the team when Harshwardhan Singh reduced Chambal Ghariyals to 32/2 in the pursuit of 155. Henceforth, Ankush had to be picky about the deliveries he could attack besides curbing his natural instinct on occasions for the greater good. He pressed the release button only when sufficient water had flown under the bridge, with two consecutive sixes off Aditya Mishra taking his partnership with Rohit Gupta beyond fifty. It was a recurring theme in the first afternoon game of Madhya Pradesh T20 league, with Rishabh Chauhan too pulling off a fine balancing act between risk and reward earlier.
The top-order of Malwa Stallions had been systematically bounced out, with Avesh Khan leading the charge. Well-directed bumpers, ambitious hacks, clinical catching. Then, Parth Sahani and Ashutosh Sharma, two of the most experienced campaigners in their side, looked to hit their way out of trouble. From a flimsy position of 42/4, devoid of helping hands that were the need of the hour, Rishabh paced his innings to near-perfection. The mitigating prefix to the compliment is only because Malwa Stallions fell short of an above-par score, eventually chased down with four overs to go.
A diamond is a lump of coal that did well under pressure, said Henry Kissinger. Rishabh was the saviour tailor-made for an apocalypse like this on the cricket field. An oasis of calm, he took the sting out of the situation with his compact technique, loud calls, and enterprising strike rotation. With Chambhal Ghadiyals frontloading their quicks, he waited and waited for an opportunity to pounce, like a cheetah in the bushes. It came in the form of spinner Aman Bhadoriya first, and Mayur Patil later, as clean-as-a-whistle tonks down the ground returned the smiles to the sullen faces in the dugout.
‘’I didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of the top-order, hence I was clear in my mind with regard to shot selection,’’ said Rishabh. ‘’I’ve navigated a fair share of tricky patches in my time in the middle, so I back myself to cover lost ground if I face some extra deliveries initially,’’ he adds, referring to the disapproving glances one is subjected to if their strike-rate gravitates towards a ton in a fast-paced format.
Rishabh’s composure was best exemplified in Avesh’s second spell. He ducked a bouncer with the equanimity of a traffic handler, and leant into the sucker punch to pick an attractive four through covers. As Prashant Kasde fetched three consecutive boundaries off Tripuresh Singh to blacken his figures even further, Malwa Stallions began holding their heads a little high. ‘’He played each ball on its merit and struck it nicely. His cameo is a big positive for us,’’ Rishabh lauded.
In the final analysis, despite a rich bounty of 16 runs in the last over, Rishabh echoed the sentiment of opposition captain Shubham Sharma at the toss. ‘’The pitch was quite sticky. We’d targeted 150 as the bare minimum we wanted to achieve, especially given the setbacks upfront. It got better as the game progressed, making strokeplay easier in the second innings.’’
Albeit the lukewarm bowling of Malwa Stallions was another determining factor. Dibbly-dobbly seamers like Aryan Deshmukh and skipper Ashutosh Sharma aren’t necessarily the optimal resources in a tight defence. The former gave away 42 runs in just 16 balls, his freebies including a full toss on the leg to the well-set Ankush and a juicy half-volley to Rakesh Gupta. ‘’I like to change the thoughts of people,’’ Ashutosh had proclaimed after twirling the coin. Coming from the talisman the self-belief is appreciated, but a healthy dose of introspection would do the Malwa Stallions a world of good.
Their new-ball merchant, Rawat, conceded sixes on either side of the wicket, his bumpers not potent enough to be served in front of a player of Ankush’s caliber, let alone on a damp surface that contributed to the loss of venom. In case the chin music was inspired by what Avesh and company managed to do, the pace factor has to be taken into account. For, Akash Singh rapped Pankaj Sharma on the gloves and while the ricochet landed safely, he soon entered the wickets column by forcing a jailbreak attempt on a lifter.
At the Holkar Stadium in Indore, @iamaryansurana witnesses Madhav Tiwari’s power, Ishan Afridi’s hustle, and Aayush Mankar’s chicanery @MPLeagueT20🏏🔥
Read his captivating match feature: https://t.co/LyqvtGLKGt pic.twitter.com/Nl7W9OS4FP
— White Glove (@readwhiteglove) June 4, 2026
An indicator of Ankush’s excellent control percentage was that he badly miscued a ball for the first time when victory was in sniffing distance. His alliance with Ashutosh at the top of the order for Christian Eminent club used to be the stuff of legend in Indore division, although his partner-in-crime is now operating in a different league altogether. Correspondingly, the emergence of Madhya Pradesh as one of India’s T20 talent factories means that scouts will have an eye on Ankush and Rishabh, who moved through the gears proficiently even as their six-hitting ability made emphatic appearances.
‘’A finger injury had ruled me out of the inaugural season of MPT20, but I came back strong last year (252 runs in six innings for Gwalior Cheetahs at an average of 84 and a strike-rate of 192.37) and I’m raring to go once again,’’ offers Rishabh in a tone as measured as his approach at the crease.
