Ishan Kishan breaks silence on contract snub by BCCI

28th February 2024, was quite a forgettable day for the Mumbai Indians’ wicketkeeper-batter, Ishan Kishan, who missed out on acquiring a central contract at the hands of the BCCI, accompanying the likes of Shreyas Iyer, with the former having a Grade C contract in the previous season and the latter being part of the Grade B classification.

Kishan, who had come back to India on 23rd December 2023, from the South African tour just before the Test series was yet to commence, cited personal reasons of mental fatigue, and hence-forth, declared himself unavailable for his state team Jharkhand, for the Ranji Trophy, which was scheduled to begin on 5th January 2024.

After playing a resplendent knock of 69 off 34 against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru which was the bedrock for his side’s second win of IPL 2024 by seven wickets and 27 deliveries to spare, Kishan was asked about his time away from the hectic regime of cricket in a press conference. He spoke about the controversy regarding the saga related to his BCCI contract, saying that he was practicing all along, and was also aware of the constant murmuring by people, the posts which surfaced on social media, but rightfully acknowledged that quite a lot of things are outside the sphere of control of cricketers.

“I was practicing. When I took time off from the game, people were talking a lot. Many things came on social media. But, you should also realize that many things are not in the hands of the players,” said Kishan as quoted by HT.

These are things that helped me in the break: Kishan

Kishan further added that the only recourse for him was how efficiently he availed the time during his hiatus. He also noted that there was a drastic difference as compared to his previous version, which was averse to leaving good deliveries in the 20-over format, and has come to the realization that the T20 format is quite an extended game as well. He also shared that he has been open to communicating and learning from other non-performing members of his team to get insight into their thought processes, all of which have only benefited him during his break from cricket.

“The only thing you can do is utilise the time properly. Also, the mindset to think about the previous Ishan Kishan, I would never leave a delivery in the first two overs even if they are bowling well. With time, I have learnt that even 20 overs is a big game, you can take your time and you can go ahead. Even though we have lost matches, we want to work together as a team. Changes have come like even if I am not performing and if I know someone else is not performing, I talk to them. I want to know what they are thinking. So these are things which helped me in the break,” he further added.