Bengaluru, Oct 17 (IANS) India's wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan on Saturday brushed aside talk of his status as the world's top-ranked T20I batter, saying he would rather keep the numbers out of his head and simply savour the pressure of playing the series decider against the West Indies at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
With the five-match series locked at 2-2, the left-hander said he had little interest in where he stood on any list at this stage of his career. Both teams are yet to commence warm-up due to persistent rain in what is also the first international game in Bengaluru after two years.
"Nah, I mean, at this early stage in my life, I don't want to look into stats where I stand, if I'm a number 1 batter or I'm a number 100 batter. It's just one game at a time you take, and you just try to play your best cricket. I personally love to keep all these stats aside because I don't want to get into any thought where I'm thinking about, okay, I am number one and I need to play in a certain way.
“It's not that - you just need to go in the middle and you need to enjoy as much as you can. And especially in these situations where it's a decider game, where pressure is there, you need to enjoy those moments, leave everything aside, and that's how we prepare here," Kishan said in a pre-game chat with the broadcasters.
Kishan, who will be India’s vice-captain in 4th and 5th ODI against New Zealand next month, described the team's build-up to the series decider as neither too tense nor too relaxed, and said the side was relishing a high-stakes contest after a while. "No, it’s like somewhere in the middle of both. But I know it's a decider game. We have not been in this situation recently, and so happy to be in this situation because always a decider match, it comes up with pressure.
“It comes up with expectations and everything, and this is what we want when we go into bat. You don't want to be, like, in a situation where it doesn't matter so much. So very much happy to be in this situation. But the most important thing is we all look in good frame of mind, which is the most important thing for each player, and we look to just play good cricket."
The message in the dressing room, Kishan said, was to shut out thoughts of the result. "I mean, looking at this situation, it's just about playing your best game and not thinking about what's gonna happen.
“Like, not gonna think about the result. The message is simple: to just play your game, have that aggression in the field, have that intent, have that winning attitude, and just play your best game."
India's bowlers have had a tough time against the West Indies batters in the series, but Kishan refused to hide behind the batting-friendly surfaces or single out individuals for the shortcomings and called for them to click as a cohesive unit in Bengaluru.
"I mean, to be very honest, I feel the wickets also have been very good here. But at the same time there's always room for improvement. We cannot always give it to wickets or everything. But at the same time, I feel we all as a team, we need to work together.
“It's not like someone had a bad day, and we'll be like, whatever happened, has happened because of that particular guy or something. It's our preparation, it's the team preparation we look into, and all of us need to be together at any point of time.
“So right now it's just about understanding how the other team is playing, what they are trying to achieve as a team, and just be aware of the situation and the conditions and just execute our plans."
--IANS
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