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The Times of India
The Times of India
Sport
Dwaipayan Datta | TNN

IPL 2022: Not my fault I went for big money, says Ishan Kishan

Shane Watson had said a few days ago that Mumbai Indians had a shocking auction and paying Rs 15.25 crores for Ishan Kishan was a big mistake. "So much money on Ishan Kishan… He is a brilliant and skilled player, but he's not worth spending your whole contract on," Watson, a former IPL superstar and an assistant coach of Delhi Capitals, had said.

Kishan has had an up-and-down season, scoring 321 runs at a strike-rate of 117 as Mumbai languish at the bottom of the table. The Jharkhand keeper-batsman did agree that price tag is a pressure, albeit for the first few days.

"Yes, it's there initially but they you realize that you are not responsible for your price tag. If someone has thought you are good enough, they have paid that amount of money," Kishan said ahead of Mumbai's match against CSK on Thursday.

The 23-year-old said that he had spoken to the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma on how to deal with this pressure. "They also got big money when they were pretty young. So I spoke to them and tried to get a feeling on how to deal with it. They told me not to think about it, and slowly as the tournament progresses, you forget about it. What becomes important is giving 100 % for your team, whether you have gone for base price or big money," Kishan said.

While price-tag has its own baggage, there is the constant social media scrutiny that often unnerves young players. Kishan, now a senior in the Mumbai Indians squad, said that he had often noticed young players "going through the comments section" right after a match.

"I tell them not to lose sleep over it. I have stopped looking at what is said about me… It's a competitive sport, fans are invested in it and they have an opinion and they voice it. But my job is to keep my focus in place and do the processes correctly," the swashbuckling left-hander added.

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