Mumbai Indians (MI) wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan failed to live up to the expectations of his hefty price tag in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). However, the southpaw isn’t too concerned about his form as he believes even the best of cricketers “struggle” at some point.
In a bold move at the IPL 2022 mega-auction, MI’s think-tank had spent a whopping INR 15.5 crore to retain the services of Kishan but his returns haven’t been good this season. In 13 games so far, he has scored 370 runs at an average of 30.83, including three half-centuries.
“Even the biggest of players (can struggle), I have seen the likes of Chris Gayle taking time (to start hitting),” Kishan said at the post-match conference after MI lost to SRH by three runs on Tuesday (May 17).
“Every day is a new day, every match is new. Some day, you get a good start, some day, opposition bowlers come prepared and they bowl the balls at good areas.
“The planning inside the dressing room may be different from what the outside people want.”
He said his role was not about hitting from the word go without assessing the situation.
“In cricket, it can never be sure that you have just one role and I will just go out and hit the ball. If you think about the team, it is more important to understand about your role,” Kishan, who scored 43 off 34 balls against SRH, said.
“If the opposition bowlers are bowling well you need to give respect to them and if you can save wicket it makes easier for the batters coming later.
“There cannot be just one situation. Some day, you need to go all out when you are chasing a big total, some day, you need to analyse the strength of opposition team whether they have good bowlers to bowl at the death or not, or whether we have to save wickets or not.”
According to Kishan, MI could have won the match against SRH had Tim David, who slammed 46 off 18 balls, was there till the end.
Notably, David got run out in the final delivery of the 18th over while attempting a single to keep the strike with MI still needing 19 off the last two overs.
“Unfortunately, Tim David was run out. If he was till the end, he could have finished the game.”
(With PTI inputs)
