The ground was directly opposite the hotel. A personal car was waiting for Ishan Kishan. He ignored it and got into the e-rickshaw with his teammates.“Despite being an India player, he travelled in an e-rickshaw with us,” recalls Sunny Gupta, assistant coach of Jharkhand. It was an invitational tournament in Kolkata, small stakes, away from the lights. Nobody would have noticed if Kishan had taken the car. He would have. He had also kept one rule for the team — anyone who walked in late to catch the bus had to pay a thousand rupees fine. He enforced it without exception. “His grounded nature has helped him grow. We have seen how small success does change players but in Kishan’s case things have been different.”That quality — the refusal to separate himself from the group, the insistence that the same rules apply to everyone — is what SunRisers Hyderabad are counting on as Kishan takes over the captaincy while Pat Cummins recovers from injury. It is borrowed time. But borrowed time has a way of revealing character.***When Kishan took over Jharkhand’s captaincy earlier this year, the first thing he did was set the rules of the room. No negative vibe inside the dressing room. No coach would scold a player in public — only one on one. If a batsman or bowler had a bad day, they would not sit with their head down.“One thing Ishan was clear about was that the dressing room needs to be a happy place irrespective of win and loss,” Gupta says. The rules were not decorative. He told his teammates even if they get out, it’s fine but there should be clear thought in their approach. Ishan Kishan after scoring ton for Jharkhand. (FILE photo)In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final against Haryana, Jharkhand had decided to target the opposition off-spinner. It was the plan. Kishan went out and played three dot balls, took a single, and found himself at the non-striker’s end — standing next to his batting partner, having failed to do the very thing he had asked of everyone else. “If I don’t hit him, then what face will I show back in the dressing room?” Then he charged.Jharkhand won the trophy.***Those who have watched Kishan closely over the last two years describe a man most people haven’t seen. “People perceive him as a laughing boy but he is different when it comes to planning,” Gupta says. “He will sit studying opponents — mapping each player, watching endless video — before concluding his meeting. Sometimes two hours before he’s done.” The laughing face is real. So is the two-hour meeting.Story continues below this adTeammate Virat Singh recalls Kishan pulling him aside when the captaincy began. The message was clear — they wanted to become a champion team, and players would get recognition only when the team won. “He is not the kind who believes only in talking. If the team has decided to score quickly, he will be the first one to raise his hand.”Singh watched Kishan walk the talk in one Syed Mushtaq Ali game — quick wickets had fallen, the situation had changed, but Kishan played exactly the aggressive brand he had promised. No retreat from the plan. Only accountability to what he had said.The trust runs both ways. Singh had wanted to learn the reverse sweep. He asked Kishan how he played it. “From that day, every time I went out to bat, he was standing behind to see me and guiding me. So he wins that trust,” Singh says.***The road back was not straightforward. Kishan drifted out of the international side, the absence stretching long enough for doubt to settle in. The return came through domestic cricket, through the Jharkhand captaincy, through runs that piled up consistently enough to force the selectors’ hands. By the time the T20 World Cup arrived he was in the eleven, contributing at the top, finishing what he started.Story continues below this ad Ishan celebrating after a century. (FILE photo)Now comes SunRisers. Cummins will return. The captaincy is temporary. But the opportunity is real — and the dynamic shifts. In Jharkhand, Kishan was leading younger cricketers who looked up to him. In the IPL, the dressing room is full of internationals, players with their own reputations and methods.“If the players start understanding him there, then I think his work will be very easy,” Singh says. “I think he is going to succeed.“Ishan has surely learnt a lot from Mahi bhai,” Singh says. “His quality is that he knows which players to talk to, kise kab jaabi deni hai, kise pyar se kaam nikalwana hai and when to increase their confidence.”The car was waiting. He took the e-rickshaw.