“You just have to be…” - Ishan Kishan reveals the reason behind his success in T20s

India’s No.3 batter, Ishan Kishan, who won the player of the match award for his 76-run knock off 32 balls with 11 fours and four sixes in the second T20I against New Zealand, has revealed that he wanted to be in a very good headspace.

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Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Kishan stated he was trying to watch the ball and play good shots, maximizing things in the powerplay. Notably, Kishan came out to bat at 6/1 when Sanju Samson lost his wicket for just six runs.

“Nothing special for lunch, I just had normal food. I was focusing more on what I had to do today and being in a very good headspace for this game. Sometimes you understand that you’re batting well. You just have to be in a good headspace and try to watch the ball and play your good shots,” Ishan Kishan said. 

“We were looking not to take risks, not to go cross-batted, but I was still looking to score as many runs as possible in the powerplay. At the end of the day, when you’re chasing a 200-plus total, you have to get good runs in the powerplay,” he added.

Furthermore, he went on to assert that scoring runs in domestic cricket is very important to make it to the national team. Notably, Kishan emerged as the leading run-scorer in the SMAT 2025-26 campaign with 517 runs from 10 games at an average of 57.44.

“I was just looking to score runs (in domestic cricket). Sometimes it’s important to do it for yourself, to answer your own questions about how you’re batting and whether you’re capable of playing for India. That’s why it was important for me to play domestic cricket and get runs. The good part was that we won the trophy as well, and I carried that confidence here. So it was a pretty good day for me,” he stated. 

“I asked myself one question (his comeback) - can I do it again or not? And I had a very clear answer. I felt I could bat through the innings and play good shots. I just needed to get runs somewhere to answer my questions. Even if I got out, I just wanted to play good cricket, that was it,” he concluded.

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India will next take on New Zealand in the third T20I on Sunday, January 25, in Guwahati.

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