Jayawardene talked about how Ishan Kishan. who made a rousing international debut against England, was addicted to gaming, was occasionally lazy and used to arrive at net sessions without an objective in mind.
During an interaction with Cricbuzz, Mahela Jayawardene revealed the effort that went into making Ishan Kishan focus on the right things and rediscover his mojo. He said in this regard:
Jayawardene continued:
MI had shelled out a whopping INR 6.2 crore for Ishan Kishan in 2018 when the player was still trying to find his feet in domestic cricket. He was a prodigy, without any doubt, but the franchise’s coaching staff found it difficult to know what made him tick.
Jaywardhane was the first one to crack that code. In a must-win game against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018, the Sri Lankan legend promoted Ishan Kishan to No. 4 and gave him some precise instructions:
Ishan Kishan notched a 21-ball 62, lifting the team’ from 62 after nine overs to 144 after 14.4.
“You are our no. 4; this is how you need to bat; this is the tempo” - Mahela Jayawardene to Ishan Kishan
After finding out that Ishan Kishan could flourish if he has clarity about his role, Jayawardene and co. decided to deploy the left-hander at no. 4 in MI’s IPL 2020 campaign.
Ishan Kishan vindicated Jayawardene’s trust, top-scoring for the champions with 516 runs at a fabulous average of 57.33.
The Sri Lankan legend continued:
Ishan Kishan will look to hit the ground running in IPL 2021, continue his rich vein of form and stake his claim for the no. 4 spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians open their IPL 2021 campaign against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai on April 9.
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