Ishan Kishan stays focussed on the present amid talks of potential T20 World Cup selection
India opener Ishan Kishan reveals he is not thinking too much about the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 selection.
"About the (T20) World Cup, it is not in my hands and I am taking things very easy right now," he said on Thursday, 11 April, after smashing a 34-ball 69 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru to take his IPL team Mumbai Indians to a comfortable win.
"You have to take one match at a time. One needs to understand that a lot is not in the hands of the players.”
Kishan returned to play competitive cricket in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after seeking a break from international cricket for personal reasons.
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He last appeared for India in November after requesting a break during the South Africa tour in December-January. Kishan continued to practice during his rest. He made his comeback in February during the DY Patil T20 Cup.
The opener adopted a ‘good mindset’ to tackle the outside noise, especially things said on social media.
"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," said Kishan.
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Kishan, alongside Shreyas Iyer, was not included in the BCCI central contract list for the period between October 2023 and September 2024. Despite being left out, Kishan is adopting a positive approach by focusing on what he can control.
"There is nothing like that [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 [your] controllables and what are [your] uncontrollables,” added Kishan.
Currently, he is the top run-getter for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024, accumulating 161 runs at a strike rate of 182.95. Kishan represented India in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and made the T20 World Cup squad in 2021.