Months after returning to the field, India's star wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan has bounced back to form for Mumbai Indians in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2024.
Kishan's 69 runs off just 34 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday not only laid the foundation for Mumbai Indians in their chase of 197 runs, but opened the path for Hardik Pandya's squad to win the match. Ishan's innings was studded with seven fours and five sixes.
Meanwhile, Kishan also opened up on his last few weeks ahead of the start of the IPL, when he was axed from Board of Control for Cricket in India's Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2023-24 season.
Before IPL, he was selected for South Africa series in December 2024, but he withdrew citing mental fatigue. He also didn't make himself available for international selection in the coming months.
Despite India's head coach Rahul Dravid and BCCI secretary Jay Shah requesting him to play Ranji Trophy, Kishan decided to prepare for IPL with his MI captain Hardik Pandya.
"I was practicing. When I took time off from the game, people were talking a lot. Many things came on social media. But you should also realize that many things are not in the hands of the players," NDTV quoted Kishan as saying during the press conference after Mumbai Indians' 7-wicket win against RCB on Thursday.
Kishan said he infused a big shift in his mindset during the break, and worked on how to handle the low phases in his career.
"The only thing you can do is utilise the time properly. Also the mindset to think about the previous Ishan Kishan, I would never leave a delivery in the first two overs even if they are bowling well. With time, I have learnt that even 20 overs is a big game, you can take your time and you can go ahead. Even though we have lost matches, we want to work together as a team. Changes have come like even if I am not performing and if I know someone else is not performing, I talk to them. I want to know what they are thinking. So these are things which helped me in the break," he further added.
On February 28, the BCCI axed Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from its central contracts.
"Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations," the BCCI said in an official statement.
The BCCI was unhappy with Ishan for not participating in domestic cricket during periods when he was not playing for the national team.
It was expected that Kishan would play domestic cricket during his time away from the national team, but the wicketkeeper-batter was absent from his state team Jharkhand's Ranji Trophy matches.
Though India's head coach Rahul Dravid mentioned that he needed to play some form of cricket to regain his place in the Indian squad, Kishan ignored it.
