Had a chat with Virat – Ishan Kishan credits four players for his comeback in IPL 2021

Mumbai Indians dismantled Rajasthan Royals with its pace attack for an eight-wicket win in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday which kept the defending champions’ playoff hopes alive.

Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Neesham and Jasprit Bumrah shared nine wickets in between them as Rajasthan was pinned down to 90-9 after Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field.

Ishan Kishan (50 off 25 balls) then smacked his first half-century of the season as Mumbai raced to 94-2 in only 8.2 overs to improve their net run-rate which could prove vital in deciding the fourth team for the playoffs.

Kishan smashed five boundaries along with three sixes and also became the youngest Mumbai batter to reach 1,000 IPL runs.

In the first three games of the UAE leg, Ishan registered scores of 11, 14, and 9. He was dropped from the next two games but was included in the playing XI against Rajasthan Royals.

While speaking during the post-match presentation, Kishan explained his thought process.

“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, got a good idea of the surface. Our plan was to play as straight as possible. Just play in the V was the plan and the batsmen executed really well,” stated Kishan.

“I feel ups and downs are a big part of any sportsman. I was also not in good shape. Most of the batters were not getting runs like in previous seasons. We had great support staff. Our captain… In fact, I had a chat with Virat Bhai, Hardik Bhai. Everyone was there to support me. I had a chat with KP (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. I watched a few videos of my batting and that gave me a bit of confidence.”