Ishan Kishan's blunt reaction on T20 World Cup chances ahead of Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson: ‘Don’t want to prove...'

Ishan Kishan opened up on his T20 World Cup chances after unleashing fury against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru with 69 runs off just 39 deliveries

Mumbai Indians’ lethal opening batsman Ishan Kishan has looked to pivot his IPL campaign around his individual growth as well as the team’s success without being too optimistic about being picked for the T20 World Cup campaign.

Who will make the India T20 World Cup squad as wicketkeeper-batter?

The left-hander unleashed fury against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru with 69 runs off just 39 deliveries on Thursday. In the post-match conference, Ishan talked about his selection hopes for the T20 World Cup and that there is barely anything in the players’ hands.

"About the World Cup, it is not in my hands and I am taking things very easy right now, You have to take one match at a time. One needs to understand that a lot is not in the hands of the players," the MI batter said.

The wicket-keeper batsman said that he did not want to rush things in a big tournament like IPL. "It (the IPL) is a long 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, let's do it.

Recently, the BCCI terminated the contracts of Ishan along with Shreyas Iyer. The former also came back after a long hiatus as he took some time away from the game. The left-hander talked about his sabbatical and how he wanted to adopt a good mindset in phases like these.

"I was practising (during the break). When you take a break, people gossip about it a lot, they say a lot of things on social media. But I feel it's important to understand not everything is in players' hands. We can only make the best use of the break. This is what adopting a good mindset is."

Ishan also mentioned that he did not set his eyes on proving his point but rather enjoy the game.

"There is nothing like that I want to prove to someone," he said. "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 (the) controllables and what are (the) uncontrollables.

Ishan will be in line of wicket-keeper batsmen for the World Cup bus along with Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant. While the RR skipper has been in great form with 246 runs from five matches, Rishabh Pant is also seeing daylight with a fifty against the Chennai Super Kings as well as 41 41-run cameo against the Lucknow Super Giants.

Ishan's performance in IPL 2024 so far

Ishan had a shaky start this season with low scores in the first three matches, scoring 161 runs from five matches. However, the left-hander displayed his intent against the Delhi Capitals (42 off 23 balls) before finally demolishing RCB (69 off 34 balls).

While it can’t be predicted whose chances are bleak for the World Cup, Ishan’s pragmatic approach towards the scenario is likely to get him good performances in the coming phases of the league.