CHENNAI: The return of Ishan Kishan is one of the most read inspiring stories in recent times. Enduring the worst moments in his career, Ishan was forced to go back to domestic cricket to stitch his life piece by piece. Back then, practice and matches kept him in good stead. As times passed, he discarded his maverick lifestyle and concentrated on his cricket. There is maturity in his innings and the new phase is just blossoming.
It was evident on Sunday again. On a R Premadasa wicket in Colombo where run scoring was not easy, India opener played one of the best knocks of his career so far, scoring a 40-ball 77. That proved to be the difference between the two sides as India humbled Pakistan by 61 runs to sail into the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup.
Ahead of that match, the 27-year-old from Jharkhand hammered a 24-ball 61 against Namibia in Delhi apart from a half-century against South Africa in a warm-up match. Not to forget his one century and a half-century against New Zealand in the T20I series preceding the marquee event that brought him into the playing XI. And that has been Kishan's template in the last few months — pile on runs — no matter what the format is.
The comeback started with the domestic season. He scored a hundred in the Ranji Trophy against Tamil Nadu and then took it to another level during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy top-scoring with 517 runs that included two centuries and as many half-centuries helping Jharkhand lift their maiden T20 title. A few days later, he slammed 125 in Jharkhand's first match against Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to celebrate his India call-up in style.
That rampaging run in the domestic circuit is keeping Kishan in good stead in India colours, said Jharkhand head coach Ratan Kumar. "That SMAT title was the game changer. No doubt he played a crucial part in the campaign but as the tournament progressed, he started trusting his teammates and that long run gave him enough matches and opportunities," Ratan told this daily. The former domestic player who played 22 first-class matches said Kishan's innings against Pakistan was played on one of the toughest wickets. "When nobody was able to score at the strike rate of 120, he was scoring beyond 190. It showed how well prepared he was."
Ratan said Ishan was determined to play as many matches as possible ahead of the domestic season. "He was undergoing rehabilitation at the CoE in Bengaluru when I went there as the coach of East Zone for the Duleep Trophy. I met him there as he was announced captain of the team. He was having an ankle injury and he told me that he will join the team once he gets fit. We went to Kalyani, West Bengal from there and played three practice matches of 3-day each. He was part of two matches."
Ishan injured his ankle during his stint with Nottinghamshire in England when he fell off an e-bike. Once he joined the team, the wicketkeeper-batter came up with a plan almost every day. "He would request additional sessions and then we used to arrange them. Those were not long sessions but around 30 to 40 minutes sessions. Some day, he would play sidearmers while on some day he would take part in the six-hitting drills. We used to add on a few things which were missing to his plans," said Ratan.
Kishan was not even in the scheme of things for the T20 World Cup but the bucketful of runs he scored forced selectors to include him in the 15-member squad for the tournament. It was termed a brave call then but Ishan reposed the faith shown in him by the selectors with his useful contributions so far. Ratan admitted that Ishan was additionally motivated to reclaim that lost spot. "Bad times teach you a lot. He was highly motivated to get into the national team. Usually, the Jharkhand team is not considered strong but this time we were better prepared. As the season progressed, Ishan's motivation only increased with the team playing good cricket."
Kishan opened in T20 format while came at No 4 of 5 in the one-day format for his state team. That was part of the plan as per the coach. "He always opens in the T20 format so was made the opener given his impact. In the 50-over format there is no vacant spot in the top-three as far as the India team is concerned. So he batted at No 4 or 5 in the matches he played."
Kishan had already reclaimed his place in the playing XI from Sanju Samson, who otherwise was the first-choice keeper-batter when the T20 squad was announced. The coach said it's just the beginning. "You wait and watch. In the next one or two years, he will be seen representing the country in all formats," Ratan signed off.