Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya shared a heartfelt message for Ishan Kishan, who will be playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2025. Ishan was a key member of the MI side but wasn't retained by the franchise due to the retention policy where a franchise was allowed to retain just six players. MI retained Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma.
Hardik said he knew it would be tough for MI to get Kishan back in the auction given the skill set he brings to the table, and the demand among other franchises. Hardik said Kishan brought smiles to people's faces and that the team would miss him.
“Ishan has been the ‘freshness’ and the ‘energy’ of the room. When we couldn’t retain him, we always knew that it’s gonna be very difficult to get him back from the auction simply because we knew that, the kind of player and kind of skillset he brings. He always used to be keep the dressing room light, has made a lot of people smile," Hardik said in a video posted by MI.
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"That love and warmth, it came very natural to him and there will be less cake smashing, less pranks happening on people. That was Ishan and who used to bring so much love to this team, that is something as a group we are going to miss. Ishan Kishan, you will always be MI’s pocket-dynamo. We all gonna miss you and we all love you,” he added.
💌 𝓉ℴ 𝐼𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓃 #MumbaiMeriJaan#MumbaiIndians | @ishankishan51pic.twitter.com/K1Gz5DKYUU
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) December 1, 2024
Ishan Kishan made his IPL debut in 2016 for Gujarat Lions and switched to Mumbai Indians in 2018. He played 89 matches across seven seasons for MI, scoring 2325 runs, including 15 fifties. His best season came in 2020, where he scored 516 runs in 14 matches at an average of 57.33, including four fifties. He was also part of the IPL-winning squads in 2019 and 2020.