The 19-year-old and Rohit added 82 runs for third wicket partnership.
Mumbai Indians cricketer Ishan Kishan. (Photo: AFP)
Young wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan’s 21-ball 62 helped Mumbai Indians to record an emphatic 102-run victory over Dinesh Karthik’s Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Talking about his explosive 62 runs innings, Ishan credited skipper Rohit Sharma, MI coach Mahela Jayawardene and his franchise for backing him.
“It’s always good for a youngster to bat up the order and when your skipper and the franchise is backing you, it’s just about playing your game. I am comfortable batting anywhere,” Kishan said at the post-match press conference on Wednesday night.
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Mumbai was two wickets down after putting a score of 62 runs in nine overs when Ishan joined Rohit Sharma on the ground. Rohit’s message to the teen batsman was quite simple: “back yourself and attack”.
“Coach also said in the time-out that just be yourself, back yourself and that we needed some good hits today. Rohit Bhai also said, ‘You can hit well, just look at the ball and get with the flow'” Ishan said.
“They knew if I remained there I could get a lot of runs. I just had to look at the ball till the last moment and keep it going,” Ishan further said.
After Ishan came to bat it took just 30 minutes and the match had taken a U-turn, from 72/2 after 10 overs, Mumbai reached 144 in the 15th over.
The 19-year-old and Rohit added 82 runs for third wicket partnership.
“Kuldeep is outgoing for me (bowls the delivery that turns away from me) but he loves to bowl the googly at me. I’ve played him earlier as well. So I knew he was trying to get the ball outside the off stump,” Kishan said while explaining his plans about Kuldeep Yadav.
“My target was that if I get the ball in my arc, I would hit it out of the park. It was like ‘keep watching the ball’. If you get the ball, hit, otherwise you can go for a single as well.”
“Rohit was batting with me, so there was no problem. I knew if I don’t score, he can cover up.”
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