For Ishan Kishan, the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) was turning out to be a nightmare, with the T20 world cup around the corner. In his first eight games in the tournament, he managed to score 107 runs at an average of around 12. After enduring the failures in the middle-order, the left-hander was left out of the playing XI. However, fortunes turned around for him after he was sent to open the batting for Mumbai Indians.
After MI’s thumping win over the Orange Army, Kishan was happy to have got his form back. He also said that it was RCB and Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who backed him to open the batting in the upcoming World Cup in the UAE.
A very good thing for me as well as for the team. Getting in good touch before the World Cup. A good state of mind is very important. I knew we are in a do-or-die situation. It was just the intent and the positive mindset. I haven’t scored as many boundaries in the cover region this season,” Kishan was quoted as saying after the match.
We gave everything we had tonight and we have so much to learn from this season. Thank you to all the fans for your constant support. Our #OneFamily 💙 pic.twitter.com/rOe4IWjNwB
— Ishan Kishan (@ishankishan51) October 8, 2021
“You have to be prepared for every circumstance. It’s important to be in that mindset. I had a chat with Virat bhai, HP [Hardik Pandya], KP [Pollard] – they were all there. I would love to open, and that is what Virat bhai said. But at the bigger level, you need to be prepared for everything,” he added.
Ishan Kishan storms back to form
𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ 𝔹𝕆𝕐 ⭐ 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗪#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #IPL2021 #SRHvMI @ishankishan51 pic.twitter.com/PRR80RQ5Jt
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) October 8, 2021
In his last two IPL outings, Kishan 134 runs off 57 balls at a strike rate of 235.08. On Friday, the youngster smashed a 32-ball 84 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Having notched the fastest fifty in IPL 2021 off a mere 16 balls, Kishan bagged the Player of the Match award as MI won the game by a comprehensive margin of 42 runs.
He cleared all the doubts in the selector’s mind of If they took the right decision by selecting him for the T20 World Cup, scheduled to get underway on October 17 in the UAE.
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