Hardik Pandya bids emotional farewell to Ishan Kishan: ‘There will be less cake smashing…’
Hardik Pandya says an emotional goodbye to Ishan Kishan, who transferred to Sunrisers Hyderabad. He reflects on Kishan's lively personality and the joy he brought to the team, emphasising that Mumbai Indians will greatly miss him.
Mumbai Indian skipper Hardik Pandya has bid an emotional farewell to former teammate Ishan Kishan. The dashing left-hander played for MI until last year but was snapped up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹11.25 crore in this year's IPL mega-auction in Jeddah.
In a video shared on social media, Pandya said, "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."
The Mumbai Indians captain added, “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 always be MI’s pocket dynamo. We all gonna miss you, and we all love you.”
Ishan Kishan's IPL career
Ishan Kishan made his IPL debut at the age of 17 for Gujarat Lions in 2016 and continued to play for the franchise the following year. In 2018, Kishan was bought by Mumbai Indians for ₹6.2 crore. That year, he scored 275 runs at a strike rate of 150. However, his breakthrough season came in 2020, when he became MI's highest run-scorer with 516 runs, and his consistent batting at the top of the order made him one of the most valuable players for the franchise.
The left-hander was bought for a whopping ₹15.25 crore in 2022 and was also retained for the 2023 and 2024 IPL seasons. However, having already spent ₹75 crore on Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma, Mumbai Indians had little chance of getting Kishan back at this year's auction.
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Business NewsSportsCricket NewsHardik Pandya bids emotional farewell to Ishan Kishan: ‘There will be less cake smashing…’
First Published:2 Dec 2024, 08:40 AM IST
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