It took me a while to understand – Ishan Kishan on Virat Kohli’s advice

India’s rookie batter Ishan Kishan has admitted that it took him a while to process Virat Kohli’s advice. Kishan feels he was a bit laid-back regarding his cricket but Kohli’s words did have a deep impact on him.

The former Indian captain urged Kishan to sacrifice a lot of things and told him to give everything to the game.

Kishan revealed that he has been always been motivated by the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as both of them have set high benchmarks for themselves as well as the whole team. The left-hander has been performing well in the IPL in the last couple of seasons and he was bought for a whopping amount of INR 15.25 crores by Mumbai Indians in the auctions.

When asked about his aspirations, Ishan said, “Initially I used to think ‘kuch na kuch achcha hi hoga yaar… bas khelte raho, run banaate raho’ (something will happen nice, just keep playing and keep scoring runs). But later my point of view changed. When I look at Rohit bhai, Virat bhai and the benchmarks they’ve set for themselves, that’s where I want to head. I want to be as dedicated as they are and emulate them. Earlier I used to think, ‘chalo cricket chal raha hai (cricket is going well), everything is good”, he told TOI in an interview.

“It took me a while to understand what goes into this whole ‘chalte rehna’ bit. I gradually began picking up things. For instance, the conversation I had with Virat bhai where he said ‘Dus mein se saat cheez tujhe sacrifice karna padega’ (you will need to sacrifice seven things out of 10). Little things,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan was not at his best in the T20I series against West Indies as he failed to time the ball. Kishan scored 71 runs in three matches at an average of 23.67 as he was given the chance to open the innings in the absence of KL Rahul.

The left-hander is once again expected to open the innings as Rahul has not yet recovered from the injury. Furthermore, Kishan might also keep the wickets as Rishabh Pant has been rested for the T20I series against Sri Lanka.

Kishan will look to grab his chances against the Island nation and he will aim to be at his best. The first T20I will be played at Lucknow on Thursday.