IPL 2021: “Chats with Kohli, Hardik and Pollard helped” – Ishan Kishan 

Mumbai Indians’ (MI) batter Ishan Kishan powered his side to a win against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 in Sharjah on Tuesday. He credited his skipper Rohit Sharma, teammates Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, and national captain Virat Kohli for boosting his confidence.

After a dreadful dry spell of eight innings, Ishan Kishan finally found form to slam his first 50 this season. His unbeaten 25-ball 50 helped MI chase down RR’s 90 in 8.2 overs in their must-win encounter.

Opening the innings in place of Quinton de Kock, the Jharkhand southpaw smacked three sixes and five fours to ensure MI boosted their net run rate (NRR).

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“It’s nice to be back opening and getting runs for the team and making sure that we win by a big margin. It’s a very good feeling as it was much-needed for our team to get momentum again,” said Ishan Kishan in the post-match interview.

Speaking through the challenging phase he endured due to his lack of runs, the 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batter added:

“I feel ups and downs are a big part of any sportsman. I was also not in good shape. Most of our batters were not getting runs like in previous seasons. We had great support staff. Our captain [Rohit Sharma] too. In fact, I chatted with Virat bhai and Hardik bhai, and 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, 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.”

There was pressure building on the national selectors to replace Ishan Kishan from India’s T20 World Cup squad owing to his poor form. He was one of MI’s heroes last season in their tournament win in the UAE, slamming 516 runs at an average of 57.33, with a strike rate of 145.8.

The surfaces in Sharjah have been a struggle for batters this season. Ishan Kishan revealed that the wicket played slightly better in the second innings and that MI had a plan to counter the difficult surface.

“It was good to field first; we got a good idea of the surface. We planned to play as straight as possible. After seeing the first innings, we knew that the ball wasn’t coming on as well, and the bounce wasn’t there. Just playing in the V was the plan, and the batsmen executed really well,” Ishan Kishan added.

"Need to play with the same energy": Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan dismissed talks about MI wanting the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to lose their next match to open their playoff qualification gates. The youngster reckons the team needs to play their last league match with the same energy.

“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. We need to play with the same energy today. Looking forward to doing this again in the next game,” said Ishan Kishan, who will be expected to open and don gloves in MI’s final league match.

In a must-win affair, MI will take on bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Much will also depend on KKR’s fortunes against RR on Thursday and the margin of both games’ results.

Poll : Who should open for Mumbai Indians for rest of IPL 2021?

Ishan Kishan

Quinton de Kock

83 votes

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