Ishan Kishan is a changed man, though he claims that he “didn’t actively try” to change himself. The result of that “change” has been fabulous as Ishan authored an impactful innings of 270 for East Zone in the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone.
Having defeated his inner monsters, namely “overthinking” and “expectations”, Ishan also battled against humid conditions masterfully to construct his innings on the second day of the match in Chennai on Monday. The skipper’s runs helped East Zone post a gigantic 708 in their first innings.
While Ishan flaunted his red-ball credentials, Kumar Kushagra struck his sixth first-class hundred (101) to provide support to his captain.
Witnessing Ishan’s epic, spanning 522 minutes and 334 balls across nearly two days, were three national selectors who were present at the venue. He was brutal in his execution even while upholding the red-ball values.
A dasher in white-ball cricket, Ishan gave the red ball its due respect. While his first hundred, on Sunday, had come off 122 balls, he played 148 balls for his second on Monday. The temptation to go berserk was always there, but the “changed” Ishan wisely avoided it, grinding the opposition into submission with the passage of time.
How has he unclogged his mind?
“I didn’t actively try to change myself. It just happened naturally. When I was out of the (India) squad, I realised that we ultimately have only one job to do – simply to score runs. That is the only thing that helps you in your career,” Ishan said after the day’s play.
“Any other thoughts will only manipulate your mindset, push you into overthinking, and pile on unnecessary pressure. I realised that those extraneous thoughts aren’t necessary. Our job is to step in and win matches for the team.
“That’s all you should care about. You evolve with time, and I feel it is much easier to play this way when you keep your mind clear,” he added.
Ishan, however, missed out on joining Raman Lamba (1987) and Gagan Khoda (2001), batters who scored triple hundreds in the Duleep Trophy.
This was Ishan’s second first-class double hundred.
Ishan was forced to leave the field with exhaustion after he had reached 250 off 301 balls. He returned later, at the fall of the seventh wicket, to add 20 more runs to his total.
The left-handed batter hit 30 fours and seven sixes in his innings.
That he has gained significant control of his mind and has more patience in his batting was evident from his words and approach.
“The best thing I’m doing nowadays is not thinking about anything. My job as a batsman is just to go there, watch the ball, and react to it and not keep any expectations from myself. At times, you will, obviously, lose patience. But that is the time when you have to talk to yourself; you have to control that, calm your thoughts about whether you are taking the right decision or not, and after that, you execute your plans,” he said.
South Zone will have a mountain to climb when they come out to bat on Tuesday. They will hope Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Tilak Varma can help them with a
robust response.
Brief scores: East Zone 708 (Ishan Kishan 270, Kumar Kushagra 101, Shikhar Mohan 85; Tripurana Vijay 4/180) vs South Zone. At Stumps, Day II.