IPL 2021: Had A Chat With Virat Kohli During My Lean Patch, Reveals Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan smashed an unbeaten knock of 50 runs off 25 balls during Mumbai Indians' (MI) chase vs Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 51 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season in Sharjah, on Tuesday. MI went on to win by eight wickets and Kishan finally found his footing in UAE. The wicketkeeper-batsman has been out of sorts since IPL 2021 resumed in September. He began the tournament's UAE leg on a poor note, scoring only 11, 14 and nine in MI's first three matches.

He was subsequently dropped for his side's next two fixtures. The India international celebrated his return to the playing XI with a fantastic half-century and will be aiming to justify his selection for the T20 World Cup in the upcoming games.

Speaking during the post-match presentation, Kishan revealed that he had a short chat with Virat Kohli after his poor displays and the Team India skipper passed on his support.

"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 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", he said.

"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", he further added.

Also expressing joy on making his return to the squad, Kishan said that it felt good to be back.

"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", he said.

After the win, MI have caught up with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and both teams are tied up on points (12), with one more game to go. The Eoin Morgan-led side is ahead of Rohit Sharma's side in fourth spot due to a better net run-rate.

"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 (as) today. Looking forward to doing this again in the next game", Kishan stated.

Topics mentioned in this article

Rajasthan Royals Mumbai Indians Ishan Kishan IPL 2021 ICC T20 World Cup 2021 Virat Kohli Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians, Match 51 Cricket