India and Mumbai Indians (MI) keeper-batter Ishan Kishan received a lot of flak from fans when he refused to pay heed to Indian team management’s calls to play domestic cricket recently. Kishan was on a break from cricket, coming back home in the midst of a South Africa tour.
Kishan spent time at home and despite repeated attempts by BCCI and Team India management, Kishan didn’t play in the Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand. Instead, he made his cricketing return in the DY Patil T20 Cup and is now playing for MI in the IPL 2024.
However, he has pushed his case for selection in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad thanks to an impressive outing in IPL 2024 for MI in their recent match against RCB in Mumbai.
Kishan highlighted his rampaging 34-ball 69 against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as an indicator of his renewed approach.
"About the World Cup, 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 (IPL) a very big tournament and you do not want to overstep. I am just taking one game at a time and however I can help the team, (my motto is) let's do it,” Kishan said in the post-match presser.
Kishan's last outing for India was in the T20I series against Australia in November 2023. Kishan, 25, was not selected for any of the next national assignments, and India head coach Rahul Dravid had emphasized that Kishan must play domestic cricket to make a return. As a result, BCCI didn’t give Ishan Kishan a central contract.
Kishan revealed that he was training and practicing as hard as he could during his sabbatical from cricket earlier this year.
"I was practicing as well as I could. I had taken (an) off (time) and when you take an off, a lot of it is gets spoken about on social media. What we can do is that if you have taken time (out) for yourself, use it the best way possible for yourself," he said.
His strike rate of 182.95 has given his team an early advantage, and he is currently MI's top run scorer with 161 runs from five matches.
"There is nothing like that (that) I want to prove to someone. I just have to go there and enjoy it. I have learned that you do not have to add pressure on yourself about these things which are not in your hand. You have to figure out what are (your) controllables and what are (your) uncontrollable," he said.
Ishan Kishan also spoke about Hardik Pandya, who replaced Rohit Sharma as MI captain and received a lot of backlash for the same. The booing and jeering was at their peak when MI lost their first three matches but won in their last two games, fans came around and have cheered for Hardik as well.
Ishan Kishan is confident that the Mumbai Indians' (MI) captain is relishing "the challenge" of winning the MI fans over.
“He (Pandya) loves challenges, he has been in this situation before and he is in that situation right now. He is not someone who will come out and talk about it and say let's stop this or that. I know that he must be enjoying it. I know him personally. I have spent a lot of time with him. He is ready for the challenges because you cannot complain to the fans, they will come up with their explanations and their point of views,” Kishan said.
Kishan remarked that the 29-year-old all-rounder has the ability to channel all the negativity into positive performances. Kishan stressed how Indian fans tend to recognize a cricketer's passion and effort, regardless of their personal feelings toward him.
“But knowing how Hardik Pandya thinks, he is happy with people doing it but I know that in the coming games, he will do it with the bat and people will start loving him (again).
People also recognize your hard work, what you are going through, and still you are doing so well for your team. I think people do recognize that. Our fans will be a little harsh on you but at the same time when you do well, or when you show that it is (still) not bothering you and (that) you are in a very good headspace, that might change. If not today, tomorrow. If not tomorrow, day after tomorrow," he said.
(PTI inputs)
