Mumbai Indains’ Ishan Kishan in action during the Indian Premier League match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: PTI

He may have returned to the Wankhede Stadium almost a month ago for the Indian Premier League but for the first time in months, Ishan Kishan would have probably felt like he was at home.

It was his swashbuckling 34-ball 69 at the top that set the tone for MI’s run chase against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. It kind of brought Kishan, the diminutive dasher, into headlines for his on-field exploits.

Seldom did he make a public appearance all through the first quarter of the year. In fact, when he was missing in action even from the Ranji Trophy, it resulted in Kishan being omitted from the BCCI’s central contracts list.

“I was practising as well as I could. I had taken off and when you take an off, a lot of it gets spoken about on social media,” he said during a media interaction on Thursday.

“What we can do is that if you have taken time for yourself, use it the best way possible for yourself. I have learned that you do not have to add pressure on yourself about things that are not in your hands. You have to figure out the controllables and the uncontrollables.”

The usage of sporting jargon by a usually bubbly and chirpy Kishan may surprise a few but his onslaught against a toothless RCB attack was on the expected lines.

With so much water having flown under the river ever since he left India’s squad midway through the tour to South Africa last December, Kishan insisted he had “nothing to prove to anyone” and he is doing his best to segregate between helping MI qualify for the playoffs and staking a claim in India’s T20 World Cup squad.