Ishan Kishan credits Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid for his return to form in Lucknow

Ishan Kishan after his 50 against SL at Lucknow on Thursday. Pic/PTI

Struggling for fluency in the previous series, young opener Ishan Kishan has credited India skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid for his return to form in the first T20I against Sri Lanka. The left-hander, who failed to capitalise on his starts against the West Indies, finally lived up to his R15.25 crore IPL tag with a whirlwind 56-ball 89 in India's 62-run win over Sri Lanka on Thursday.

"Always a senior player would want a youngster to be in a good head space. Be it [coach] Rahul [Dravid] bhai, Virat [Kohli] bhai or Rohit bhai, they all have passed this phase. They are aware how we feel when we don't perform well," Kishan said at the post-match media interaction. "I didn't do well against the West Indies. They always told me that they know about my talent and what I can do for the team. ‘We trust in you. Never ever you think that we are doubting your abilities.'"

Rohit Sharma

The wicketkeeper-batsman, who was bought back by Rohit-led Mumbai Indians at the recent IPL auction, scored just 71 runs in three matches at a poor strike rate of 85.54. But skipper Rohit kept his faith in Kishan's abilities. "After playing so much cricket, you get used to the situation. Tough times will come, but it's very important to be in the situation. You don't get too excited when you score runs.

"Same goes when you don't perform. So you need to be in a very good space. You need to talk to your seniors, because they are much more experienced than us. So it's very helpful when I sit with Rohit bhai for a conversation," added Kishan, 30, who scored his second T20I fifty.

Kishan revealed how Rohit helped him out at the nets to overcome his shortcomings to rotate the strike and take quick singles. "He [Rohit] always keeps telling me that ‘you can hit whenever you go out there in the middle. The important thing for me where I was erring was about rotating the strikes, and taking singles.

"Obviously he has helped me out in those areas, especially when I'm batting at the nets. He keeps telling me to try how to rotate the strike. ‘You can hit anyway, but it's about rotating the strike and keeping the bowlers under pressure', he would say."

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever