IPL 2022 | Ishan Kishan’s mental situation hasn’t been good in recent games, opines Sunil Gavaskar

Mumbai Indians have been going through a horrendous journey in IPL 2022 and their batting has let them down. The batting order includes heavyweights like Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard but still, it hasn’t clicked for them. In the mega auction, MI bought Ishan Kishan for a whopping amount of Rs 15.25 Crore. 

Kishan scored the fifties in the first couple of games but his form has taken a hit after that. He has managed to score just 199 runs from eight matches at 28.43 and a strike rate of 108.15. In the last game against Lucknow Super Giants, he scored eight runs and got dismissed in a bizarre manner. Kishan tried to chase a widish delivery from Ravi Bishnoi and underedged it to hit Quinton de Kock’s boot. The ball then bounced off the boot and landed in the hands of Jason Holder in the slips. 

Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar is of the opinion that Kishan is going through a tough mental phase and that was the reason he just walked off even before the umpire confirmed the dismissal. 

“He had a miserable time. He just walked off. Because he had a miserable time. So he just wanted to get out of his misery. Generally batters, when they have ripped the ball of the middle-edge of the bat, and caught and first slip, they would wait. But here's a man, who hit ball down, may be even hit the turf he was not interested, he was just walking until the umpire asked him to wait. So it was just the mental situation he was in,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

Many pacers have attacked Kishan with bouncers and short deliveries. Kishan was sometimes seen struggling against those deliveries. Gavaskar feels that his attitude towards short deliveries and it might lead him into trouble while batting in Australia.

“Maybe he was rattled by the blow he got in the last match on his helmet and it is actually not a good sign because in places like Australia or South Africa there is extra bounce and with his propensity to go there and do nothing about it, he will just be a rabbit caught in the headlights. Every fast bowler is just going to bang it over there. Nobody will pitch it up because that's where he likes. Anything below the waist he will smack it, but above, he is struggling at the moment,” he explained.