Ishan Kishan scored a 34-ball 69 against RCB, helping Mumbai Indians secure their second win in IPL 2024.

Mumbai: Thrown out of the BCCI Central Contracts after allegedly not adhering to the Board’s directive, India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan wants to focus on the job at hand and not think too much far. Improving himself as an individual and help Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024 matter more to Kishan, than overthink about a spot in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad. Kishan grabbed the headlines after he withdrew from India’s tour of South Africa citing he needed a break to address his mental health issues.

Thereafter, despite being fit, the Jharkhand batter didn’t play the Ranji Trophy despite BCCI’s repetitive warnings. As a result he along with Shreyas Iyer were omitted from the Central Contracts list inviting criticism from all corners of the cricket fraternity.

However, Kishan shut the critics with his bat. His marauding 34-ball 69 against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru is a testament of his newfound mindset, which the left-hander acquired during his recent break time from cricket. “About the World Cup, it is not in my hands and I am taking things very easy right now,” Kishan said after the game on Thursday.

“You have to take one match at a time. One needs to understand that a lot is not in the hands of the players,” added the India opener. “It’s (IPL) a very big tournament and you do not want to overstep. I am just taking one game at a time and however I can help the team, (my motto is) let’s do it,” added Kishan, who last played for India in November 2023 during the T20I series against Australia.

Amidst all the turmoil, Kishan said he worked on his cricketing skills. The Jharkhand man returned to competitive cricket in February when he played for Reserve Bank of India in the DY Patil T20 Cup, besides training with MI skipper Hardik Pandya at a private facility in Baroda.

“I was practicing as well as I could,” Kishan replied when asked what he did during his break from cricket. I had taken (an) off (time) and when you take an off, a lot of it is gets spoken about on social media,” said Kishan.

“What we can do is that if you have taken time (out) for yourself, use it the best way possible for yourself,” he said. The effort has shown in this IPL as he is currently the leading run-getter for MI with 161 runs from five matches and his strike-rate upfront — 182.95 — has given his side an early momentum.

However, Kishan did not want to see his performance as a tool to prove a point to his detractors. “There is nothing like that (that) I want to prove to someone. I just have to go there and enjoy. I have learned that you do not have to add pressure on yourself about these things which are not in your hand. You have to figure out what are (your) controllables and what are (your) uncontrollables,” he said.