Ishan Kishan was the cynosure of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 auction when Mumbai Indians (MI) splashed INR 15.25 crore to pick the left-handed opener. It made him one of the costliest players ever in the history of the T20 franchise cricket league. However, eight matches into the ongoing season, Kishan has failed to live up to the hype. He has tallied just 199 at an average of 28.43 and a strike-rate of 108.15. After scoring half-centuries in the first two matches of the IPL 2022, Kishan has failed to go past 26 in the next six matches.
His poor form has rubbed off on MI's performance too as the five-time champions are yet to win a game despite playing eight matches. Their eighth loss came on Sunday against Lucknow Supergiants as MI failed to chase a modest target of 169. Kishan also could not get going as he scored just eight off 20 balls.
However, what took the cake was Kishan's mode of dismissal. Kishan had found the going tough scoring only eight off the first 19 balls that he faced when he decided to reach out to leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi's wide delivery. only to inside edge the ball. The ball took the edge and rebounded off LSG wicketkeeper Quinton De Kock's shoes and was caught by Jason Holder at first slip.
The dismissal had the MI camp stunned while the LSG camp celebrated. Later, MI coach Mahela Jayawardene said that they are looking seriously into Kishan's lean patch.
"He has struggled a bit, we have given him the freedom to play his natural game. I haven't yet spoken to him today but I will have a conversation with him soon," the former Sri Lanka player said.
"I need to review the batters' performance. It has been a concern so far but this is a senior group so we need to keep pushing. We want to keep the batting unit consistent as far as we can."