NEW DELHI: During his two-year international wilderness, Ishan Kishan underwent some serious soul-searching and asked himself a single question: “Can I again wear that India jersey and perform?” The answer was an emphatic yes, reflected in a destructive 76 off 32 balls in just his second international appearance since his comeback, turning New Zealand’s daunting target of 209 in the second T20I into what looked like a walk in the park.After deservingly being named Player of the Match, Kishan was asked what he told himself when he was dropped from the Indian team. He replied: “I asked myself one question (his comeback) – can I do it again or not? And I had a very clear answer.”
Kishan’s journey back was a textbook example of returning to the domestic grind and rebuilding from the bottom up. He featured in tournaments such as the Buchi Babu Trophy and DY Patil before leading Jharkhand to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali National T20 title, finishing the season with over 500 runs.“I was just looking to score runs (in domestic cricket). Sometimes it’s important to do it for yourself, to answer your own questions about how you’re batting and whether you’re capable of playing for India. That’s why it was important for me to play domestic cricket and get runs.“The good part was that we won the trophy as well, and I carried that confidence here. So it was a pretty good day for me,” the ‘Pocket Dynamo’ from Patna said.For Kishan, mindset mattered more than anything else, which allowed him to dominate even after India were reduced to 6 for 2 following the dismissal of Abhishek Sharma.“I was focusing more on what I had to do today and being in a very good headspace for this game. Sometimes you understand that you’re batting well. I just needed to get runs somewhere to answer my questions. Even if I got out, I just wanted to play good cricket, that was it.”Despite scoring at a strike rate close to 240, Kishan said he consciously avoided risky shots.“We were looking not to take risks, not to go cross-batted, but I was still looking to score as many runs as possible in the powerplay. At the end of the day, when you’re chasing a 200-plus total, you have to get good runs in the powerplay.”
