A couple of months back Ishan Kishan was grabbing headlines after being dropped from the BCCI’s annual central contracts along with Shreyas Iyer for skipping domestic cricket meets. Gradually as the focus shifted towards the Indian Premier League, projected as the final audition to the T20 World Cup in June, and with the wicketkeeper-batter’s slot up for grabs in the national side, Kishan has presented his case before the national selectors with a few exciting knocks for Mumbai Indians, the latest being a 34-ball 69 on Thursday against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

However, Ishan, currently the leading run-scorer for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024 with a tally of 161 at a strike rate of 182.95, isn’t thinking about his spot in the T20 World Cup squad. Kishan last played for India in November, and had asked for a break, citing personal reasons during the South Africa tour in December-January. He returned to action in February during the DY Patil T20 Cup.

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“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 (the IPL) is a long big tournament and you do not want to overstep. I am just taking one game at a time and (my motto is) however I can help the team, let’s do it,” he said.

Talking about his time away from the game, Kishan said, “I was practising (during the break). When you take a break, people gossip about it a lot, they say a lot of things on social media. But I feel it’s important to understand not everything is in players’ hands. We can only make the best use of the break. This is what adopting a good mindset is.”

Kishan, along with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Iyer, were dropped from the central contract period between October 2023 and September 2024. The Jharkhand cricketer, however, isn’t thinking about proving a point to anyone.

“There is nothing like that (that) I want to prove to someone. I just have to go there and enjoy. 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) uncontrollables,” he said.

“If I were the old Ishan Kishan, I might not have left the good deliveries in the first two overs (against RCB). I would have been in pressure. But with time I have learned that even 20 overs are a lot and you can take your time. You can have the belief and move forward. So all these things helped me in that break also. Now we lost some games here, but I feel most of the players, not just me, were keen to work with everyone. It was never about us individually performing well for the team and not knowing what other players were going through. So I also know if someone is not doing well, how they feel.

“So these things also changed in me that even when I am not performing, if I know someone isn’t feeling good, let’s talk to them, let’s know what their mindset is. So these things have happened after that break,” he added.

‘People will start loving Hardik again’

Ever since MI kicked off their campaign in IPL 2024, new skipper Hardik Pandya has been consistently booed by the fans and the situation was no different on Thursday night at the Wankhede. But Kishan feels that the star-allrounder loves such challenges and hopes that Pandya can turn around the fans’ anger with his performances in the coming games.

“He (Hardik) 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 view,” the stumper said.

“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),” he added.