Multitasking has become a norm, says red-hot Kushagra

Multitasking doesn’t burden him and the pressure of captaincy doesn’t make him curb his flamboyant batting style. The 21-year-old Kumar Kushagra is a modern cricketer who embraces pressure rather than letting it get to him.

Kushagra has been in red-hot form this season with the bat for Jharkhand in both Ranji Trophy and limited-overs cricket. He played an influential role in Jharkhand’s maiden triumph in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) T20 tournament with 422 runs — four fifties — at a strike-rate of 161.88.

Kushagra has carried that rich vein of form into the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT), stroking a fine 105 against Pondicherry after his quick-fire 63 against Karnataka in the opener.

With Ishan Kishan’s availability limited to a few matches, Kushagra has also taken over the responsibility as the senior player and astutely led the side.

“I enjoy the responsibility. The association had sounded out to me that I will be captaining the side at various stages during this season. I was mentally prepared for it. Captaincy is about managing the players better, giving them confidence and making them perform to the desired level. Multitasking has become a norm in cricket these days and it’s not a big deal,” he said.

“Well I had worked on my game during the off-season. Yes it is challenging to switch between formats, but as a professional cricketer you should be able to adjust and adapt. I practised a lot of range-hitting with our coach Ratan Kumar. The key to success in white-ball cricket is pacing the innings and changing your game according to the situation. So far it has been a good season for me personally and for our team,” said Kushagra.

“The SMAT triumph was the coming of age of Jharkhand cricket. We had a few heroes in batting and bowling and it was an all-round performance. We are not under any sort of pressure in the VHT. We are taking it match by match and I am happy with how we are playing right now. I’m not thinking too much about the future, but definitely want to make a mark in IPL in the coming season,” he added.