Ishan Kishan on Manifestation, SRH Captaincy, and T20 World Cup Triumph

SRH will start their IPL campaign against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28. Ishan, who made a surprise return to Indian T20I side ahead of T20 World Cup and took the cricketing world by storm with his scintillating performances in domestics and international, has got the fruits of his hard work in form of a shiny T20 World Cup trophy, two T20 WC 'Player of the Match' trophies and the SRH captaincy as regular skipper Pat Cummins continues to recover from the injury which caused him to miss majority of The Ashes and the T20 World Cup in entirety.

Speaking in a video by SRH, Kishan spoke on how he always "wanted to be a leader and take the team forward through whatever situation". He also revealed what his captaincy mantra would be, that is, to keep things simple and his players in a good headspace.

"I am very overwhelmed, and I am very happy that I got this opportunity to lead this team. And, to be very honest, I am going to just keep it simple, not to do so much because when players come for IPL, I think they are all very good players. You just need to make sure that they are on the right track.

And their mindset does not change after a few innings, going here and there. And the rest is, you know, it is going to be a good season, I guess, and we will just do it together. I think there is lots and lots and lots of learning in this season because I will tell you, in the last few years, I have understood one thing, the most important thing for a cricketer is to be in a very good headspace throughout the season," he added.

Ishan said that one is calm and composed and aware of things that are happening, then they are going to do well for their team no matter what.

"So, mostly this season, we will make sure we just stay in the present, we just keep it simple and do as much hard work as we can before the match starts. But in the match, we are just going to enjoy the game and take one match at a time," he added.

Ishan, who scored 317 runs in the T20 WC at an average of 35.22, with a strike rate of over 193 and three fifties (including one in the final against New Zealand), reflected on enjoying "some of the best days of his life" in the tournament and how everyone stepped up when it mattered the most after a 76-run loss to South Africa in the Super Eights, which put India's campaign in jeopardy. However, a win over Zimbabwe and tough games against West Indies (virtual knockout) and England (in the semifinal) winning by seven runs despite 253 runs) took India to the final, where they dominated New Zealand with both bat and ball, winning by 96 runs.

"It was, I feel, the best few days of my life because, you know, joining the team suddenly and winning the World Cup with the team, so it was one of the best moments. Because, you know, there was a lot of hard work going on. Players were, a few of them were not in form, but when the time was there, when it was needed the most, everyone played the best possible cricket. And we just tried to play the best role in the team, and I think we all achieved greatness with that this season," he said.

Speaking on the power of manifestation, Ishan said that even when he was outside the set-up, at one point left without a central contract due to alleged lack of commitment to domestic cricket, he always had a belief in himself that he would make a big comeback anyhow. All he focused was on working hard and self-belief.

"When I was not in the team, there was no--I mean, how do I explain it? There was always this feeling that I would make it to the team anyhow, because I knew that the amount of hard work I would do would be the most important thing. And you know, you always need to believe in yourself," he said.

It was the domestic grind itself which helped Ishan build his road towards the biggest prize in T20I cricket as he led Jharkhand to its maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) as a captain last year, topping the charts with 517 runs in 10 innings with two centuries and fifties each.

"This will be a message to I feel so many guys, whoever is losing track or whoever is not believing in themselves, and they should know that they are supposed to believe and just keep on working hard. Things will change," he signed off.

In 13 T20Is matches this year, he has made 532 runs in T20Is at an average of 40.92, with a strike rate of 207, including a century and four fifties.

- ANI