IPL Final 2020 | Hardik and Krunal urged me to work on my fitness, reveals Ishan Kishan

After being purchased for a staggering sum of INR 6.2 crore in the auction ahead of IPL 2018, Ishan Kishan did not do justice to his price tag in the first two seasons but in IPL 2020, the Jharkhand lad showed the world exactly why Mumbai dished out the amount they did, for him. After scoring a remarkable 99 in his first appearance against RCB, Kishan grew from strength to strength and remarkably finished the season with 513 runs to his name, the highest by any MI player and the most by an uncapped player in the season. 

It was a turnaround that no one saw coming and this season from the 22-year-old has instantly seen him be spoken about as a potential long-term replacement for MS Dhoni. Speaking in the aftermath of Mumbai’s win, Kishan, who stayed unbeaten on 33, revealed that the drastic change he endured was only possible due to the intervention of the Pandya brothers who, according to him, forced him to work on his fitness. Kishan also further revealed that he worked a lot on his off-side strokeplay. 

“I wasn't looking in good shape at the start of this season, so I had a good chat with Hardik bhai and Krunal bhai, I wanted to work on my fitness, just keep working on my off-side game. Wanted to do what was good for the team with the bat and score big runs,” Kishan told Star Sports post match.

Kishan directly impacted Mumbai’s season, first-hand, but one person who weaved his magic from behind the scenes was assistant coach Robin Singh. The former all-rounder expressed that it was ‘nice’ to be a part of the backroom staff of such a successful team and further earmarked young Kishan to get a national cap in no time.

“It's always nice to be behind the scenes and contribute to some of the best guys on the field. Ishan has grown in stature, wish him well and I'm pretty sure he will be part of the Indian team in the near future.”