Mumbai Indians star Ishan Kishan opens up on drawing criticism from fans after an under-par performance in the IPL 2022.
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Mumbai Indians showed faith in India opener Ishan Kishan to fetch him for a big prize money of INR 15.25 crore from the IPL mega auction. Kishan made a head start to the IPL 2022 season by notching up an unbeaten score of 81 runs for Mumbai Indians but since then he has been below par with his performance. However, there has been signs of improvement in his last three matches as he has recorded scores of 51, 45 and 26, and is hoping to find the rhythm.
But Kishan has drawn a lot of flak from fans, especially the Mumbai Indians loyals, for not living up to his price tag. He, however, feels that it is not in his control how fans treat him and he wants to remain clear of the outside noise. The opener also highlighted that the fans have heavy expectations as they want almost every player to score 36 runs per over which is not always possible realistically in cricket.
“I don’t really check who is saying what,” he said in a pre-match press conference. “I know that they aren’t in our situation. If I was sitting on the outside, maybe I would have also written a lot of things about everyone. It’s the easiest thing to pick your phone and type away. I saw some players, new to the team, who were checking the comment sections after the match. I told them, ‘There’s nothing to be gained by reading this. Those people aren’t playing, and they don’t know what pressure we have gone through.’ It’s easy for them to write that there should have been a six hit, they might want 36 runs in six balls. But cricket isn’t so easy.
“What the situation is in the middle, what the team requires at that time… every player likes to play shots, but sometimes you will see several big-hitting players also playing on the merit of each ball, for 25 balls. Because that is a situation where you need a partnership. It’s easy for the public to write. But yes, there are some fans who know what you’re going through also and who will back you. If you see on social media, or get to see through your manager, you’ll see you get backing also in your down time. But I don’t get affected by the other comments people make, and I don’t think anyone else does either. People will talk. If you have fans, you’ll have haters too. They’re getting fun while writing, it’s okay. It doesn’t affect us, and we don’t even see those messages.”
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The prolific India opener also opened up on the challenges of being a big money player. He said that the pressure of the price tag remains for a while but one needs to adjust moving on in the tournament. The Patna-native also mentioned that senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya have helped him deal with the pressure better by sharing their thoughts on it.
“Price tag pressure lasts for a certain time,” he said. “Maybe on auction day, or maybe a day or two after that. But at the level you’re playing and having played for a while, I know what is most important. Do I keep that pressure on your mind or do I focus on how you can win matches for the team? Obviously, price tag pressure will be there for a while but if you have good seniors around you, if a player around you feels that way, a lot of seniors are around you.
“Rohit, Virat, Hardik – all of them said the same thing. ‘Don’t be worried about the price tag pressure, it’s not something you have asked for. Instead of thinking about that, think of cricket and be in your zone. That is important.’ It’s possible they would’ve also faced such a situation before. How have they handled it then? These are things I’ve spoken about. I feel very light now, I don’t even think about it. Price tag is secondary. The focus – whether you’ve been sold for 1 crore, base price or 15 crores – what matters is how you make the team win. Or if you’re not in form, how you’re helping others bring out their best. The focus has been on that.”
