One of the bright spots of Mumbai Indians' campaign in the Indian Premier League 2020 in UAE has been Ishan Kishan.
The 22-year-old Patna-born has taken his opportunities to cement his place in the busy Mumbai Indians middle-order and on Friday, guided MI to a seamless 10-wicket win against a hapless Chennai Super Kings in Sharjah.
The left-handed Ishan Kishan opened the Mumbai Indians innings with Quinton de Kock after skipper Rohit Sharma sat out with an injury. That proved to be a good move.
Kishan, who has captained the India under-19 cricket team to the 2016 ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, scored an unbeaten 68 and his 116-run stand with De Kock was enough to decimate CSK.
Kishan, who can also keep wickets, has been among runs in this edition of the IPL. He missed a century by the barest of margins against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai on September 28 and has chipped in with cameos in the all-important middle overs.
The win against Chennai Super Kings was a revenge of sorts. Defending champions MI had lost the first leg encounter against CSK in the tournament opener in Abu Dhabi on September 19.
Kishan was happy he could play a role in Mumbai's emphatic win.
"I was just trying to be positive. These type of totals (CSK scored 114/9 after being 21 for five wickets) are tricky. We are always busy when I'm batting with Quinny (De Kock), and it's good to bat with him because I get to learn from him, improvisation and all.
"In the off season I did a lot of hard work on my grounded shots because it's not easy for new batsmen to come in and start hitting. This match was really important for us because CSK is a very experienced side and it's never an easy game against them," said Ishan Kishan.
After Friday's big win, Mumbai Indians are on top of the IPL table with 14 points from 10 matches.Delhi Capitals and Royals Challengers Bangalore also have equal number of points from the same number of games but have an inferior run-rate than MI.
