He may have returned to the Wankhede Stadium almost a month ago for the Indian Premier League (IPL) but for the first time in months did Ishan Kishan felt like having been at home.
It was his swashbuckling 34-ball 69 at the top that set the tone for Mumbai Indians’ overhauling Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 195/8 with 27 balls to spare. It kind of brought Ishan, the diminutive dasher, into headlines for his on-field exploits.
Seldom did he make a public appearance all through the first quarter of the year. In fact, when he was missing in action even from the Ranji Trophy, it resulted in Ishan being omitted from the BCCI’s central contracts list.
“I was practising as well as I could. I had taken off and when you take an off, a lot of it gets spoken about on social media,” he said during a media interaction on Thursday night.
“What we can do is that if you have taken time for yourself, use it the best way possible for yourself, I have learned that you do not have to add pressure on yourself about these things which are not in your hands. You have to figure out the controllables and the uncontrollables.”
The usage of sporting jargon by a usually bubbly and chirpy Ishan may surprise a few but his onslaught against a toothless RCB attack was on the expected lines.
With so much water having flown under the river ever since he left India’s squad midway through the tour to South Africa last December, Ishan insisted he had “nothing to prove to anyone” and he is doing his best to segregate between helping Mumbai Indians qualify for the Playoffs and staking a claim in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup.
“This is where getting a good mindset works. The Ishan Kishan of the past would not have left the balls alone if the bowling was good in the first two overs. But with time I have learned that a 20-over game is also very long and you can take your time and move forward while keeping the belief in yourself,” he said.
“The World Cup (selection), it is not in my hands and I am taking things very easy right now. You have to take one match at a time. One needs to understand that a lot is not in the hands of the players. It’s a very long tournament and you do not want to overstep.”
