Ishan Kishan credits the Jharkhand captain for turning him into a “wild child” leader

Ishan Kishan believes that taking over as Jharkhand captain in 2024 has played a major role in his growth as a cricketer and as a person, saying the responsibility has helped him calm down and distanced him from his “wild child” days. Kishan returned to domestic cricket with Jharkhand after losing his BCCI central contract at the end of 2023. He also took over as captain and continued to lead the side whenever he was available.

The 28-year-old has since returned to the Indian white-ball cricket team. He also pitched one of the biggest innings of his career on Monday, he scored 270 for East Zone in the final of the Duleep Trophy against the south zone. Kishan said taking on more responsibility became important for him as he got older and established himself in the team.

Duleep Trophy Final: Day 2: Highlighting

“You have to take responsibility. If you don’t take it now, when are you going to take it? It’s not like I’m 22 and I’ve just broken into the team. When we were very young, we relied on our senior players to score and we thought we’d just support them,” Kishan said during the day’s press conference.

“But now, as an established part of the team, I feel it is crucial that I take on the primary role of scoring runs and making sure that the team’s overall tally rises because of me,” he said.

Kishan said the experience of leading a team changed his mindset and helped him become more balanced.

“Going through this whole process leads to immense personal growth, and even though you may not realize it right away, your mindset will completely change and you will become much calmer,” he said.

CAPTAINCY CHANGED HIS APPROACH

Kishan said captaincy has taught him to remain aware of everything going on around him rather than focusing only on his own performance.

“I think when you captain a team, the first thing is situational awareness…you have to stay alert all day on the field to understand what’s going on and what’s not going on. You have to take care of all your teammates,” he said.

He also pointed to the responsibility of helping teammates improve, something he said can be easily overlooked when a player is only focused on his own game.

“There are so many little things that we often overlook in our daily routine – like just showing up, hitting the nets and walking away. You’re not looking at your players or trying to help them see how they can improve,” Kishan said.

“But when you’re the captain, it’s your duty to help them because if your teammates are improving, you’ll ultimately achieve the team’s goals,” he said.

Kishan’s 270 in the Duleep Trophy final was another example of the approach he developed. He said he resisted the temptation to play more aggressively as East Zone’s priority was to put up a big first innings total.

“It was a very good innings because I always kept the team’s wicket first. I could play attacking shots at many moments but I think when you are batting on such a big stage it is very important to prioritize what the team decides first,” he said.

“We won the toss and decided to bat first and the plan was to put a big total on the board. So I had to show a lot of temperament, keep good shot selection. So I’m really happy with that innings,” he said.

– The end

Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

07 Sep 2026 21:22 IST