After a string of low scores and ultimately getting dropped from the playing 11, Mumbai Indians‘ wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan made a comeback with an unbeaten 25-ball 50 against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Tuesday. The 23-year-old’s knock and brilliant spells by pacers guided the defending champions to an eight-wicket win.
Kishan, after the match, said that he had a chat with Indian skipper Virat Kohli and teammates Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard guided him during the purple patch. The Jharkhand player had registered lowly scores of 11, 14, and 9 in the UAE-leg before the fifty against Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan. He was then dropped for two games. However, with Quinton De Kock and Krunal Pandya not playing on Tuesday, he and Jimmy Neesham got a chance. The Kiwi too impressed by picking three wickets at an economy of three runs per over.
The wicket was tricky. Ishan Kishan played a maiden second over, after his fellow opener Rohit Sharma had smashed 14 runs in the first. While speaking to the broadcasters during the post-match presentation, Kishan explained his thought process while batting.
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“It’s nice to be back opening and getting runs for the team and helping win by a big margin. Feeling really good, was much needed for our team to get momentum. It was good to field first, got a good idea of the surface. Our plan was to play as straight as possible. Just play in the V was the plan and the batsmen executed really well,” stated Kishan.
“I feel ups and downs are a big part of any sportsman. I was also not in good shape. Most of the batters were not getting runs like previous seasons. We had great support staff. Our captain… In fact I had a chat with Virat bhai, Hardik bhai.. everyone was there to support me. I had a chat with KP (Pollard) who said you just need to keep things simple, bat the way you used to do, just watch the videos of what you did in the last season. I watched a few videos of my batting and that gave me a bit of confidence,” he continued.
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Ishan Kishan is a part of India’s T20 World Cup squad. The expectations of him have been high throughout the season after his 516-run IPL 2020 in the UAE.
For Mumbai, they need Kolkata Knight Riders, with a much superior run rate, to lose against Rajasthan. If they don’t, the defending champions will have to secure a big win versus Sunrisers Hyderabad. Both the teams are tied at 12 points.
“There is talk of us wanting KKR to lose the next game and us winning our next game (smiles), but that is way ahead now. We just have to prepare for our next game. Need to play with the same energy today. Looking forward to doing this again in the next game,” Kishan added.
