IPL 2020: Ishan Kishan reveals why his match-winning knock against Delhi was not easy

Ishan Kishan said that things were not as easy as they looked after he anchored Mumbai's run chase successfully against Delhi at the Dubai International Stadium, Dubai on Saturday. Chasing a below-par total of 111, Kishan remained unbeaten on a 47-ball 72 at a strike rate of 153.19 including eight boundaries and three maximums as the title-holders got past the finish line by 9 wickets with more than five overs to spare.

The young opener was adjudged the Man of the Match for his superlative knock.

'Not as easy as it looked': Ishan Kishan

"It was not as easy as it looked. The ball wasn't coming on so I had to keep rotating the strike and then take them apart later. It all depends on the practice sessions, and how you train I wanted to keep my shape and hit sixes. My mom must get the credit for the food she gives me, that makes me so powerful, and sometimes even I'm surprised how my sixes carry such a long way. My coaches told me that playing shots on the off-side is important, and that wasn't my strength initially, and I knew, even Rahul sir told me that I need to work on my off-side shots so I've been working on that this season and thankfully it's showing in the match situation now. I enjoy batting everywhere, wherever the management wants me to bat. At this level you have to be able to adapt", said Kishan during the post-match presentation.

His skipper Kieron Pollard revealed why he introduced premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah into the attack later on in the first innings.

"I bowled Krunal and Jayant in the powerplay because I thought there was some hold in the surface and I thought the grip would aid the seamers. Bumrah, I kept delaying him, and in this kind of track, it was more useful to bowl him in the middle. He kept looking at me and wanted to bowl in the powerplay. We wanted to bowl spinners in the powerplay with some grip on offer. Ishan has gotten better in every game, and once he gets going, he's hard to get rid of. He didn't even start, Ishan, in the playing XI, came to No. 4 and then came out to open and just blew us away. Rohit is getting better and hopefully, he'll be back soon. We need to play another couple of good games and get to the final. This isn't supposed to be our year (even year), but it's been working for us so far", said Pollard.

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Pollard's opposite number Shreyas Iyer said that his team was not up to the mark right from the start.

"Obviously, we fell short of reading the wicket. We weren't up to the mark right from the start and those wickets in the Powerplay took down the momentum from us. It was important for a few of us to come and build a few partnerships but it happened in bits and pieces. There are lots of flaws to be pointed out, but we gotta believe in ourselves and be strong-headed, also be positive. You can't anticipate how it's going to play right from the start. Openers being there, it was important to get a good start, once you get the momentum, you can build on later. I feel 150 or 160 was a good total on such wickets. We'll have to think about it and be fearless in our approach. We'll keep things simple and will not try to think much. It's going to be a do or die for both teams depending on how RCB play tonight", he said.

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