Sharjah, Oct 6 (IANS): Young Mumbai Indians player Ishan Kishan, after getting flak from several quarters for his insipid batting and run drought during the current season, finally had a great outing against Rajasthan Royals and the 23-year-old left-handed cricketer said that the support he got not just from within the team but from players like Virat Kohli, helped him overcome the poor run of form.
Indian cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar has been the latest former player to criticise Ishan and Suryakumar Yadav, saying that they have "relaxed a bit" after getting the India cap.
On Tuesday (October 5), Ishan, who is a part of the Indian squad for the ICC T20 World Cup scheduled to commence later this month in the UAE and Oman, slammed an unbeaten half century as Mumbai Indians kept their hopes alive in the tournament, defeating Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in a low-scoring match.
"Obviously, it's nice to be back opening and getting runs for the team and helping win by a big margin. Feeling really good, was much needed for our team to get momentum. It was good to field first; we got a good idea of the surface. Our plan was to play as straight as possible. Just playing in the 'V' was the plan and the batsmen executed really well. I feel ups and downs are a big part of any sportsman," said Ishan following the victory achieved in just 8.2 overs.
"I was also not in good shape. Most of the batters were not getting runs like previous seasons. We had great support staff. In fact I had a chat with Virat (Kohli) bhai, Hardik (Pandya) bhai, everyone was there to support me. I had a chat with KP (Kieron Pollard) who said you just need to keep things simple, bat the way you used to do, just watch the videos of what you did in the last season, added Ishan whose half-century came off just 25 deliveries.
"I watched a few videos of my batting and that gave me a bit of confidence. There is talk of us wanting KKR to lose the next game and us winning our next game, but that is way ahead now. We just have to prepare for our next game. Need to play with the same energy today. Looking forward to doing this again in the next game," added Ishan who was also dropped for a match during the Dubai leg of the IPL due to a string of poor scores.