Name: Ishan Pranav Kishan

Ishan Pranav Kishan is 26-year-old wicket-keeper batsman who is a part of the Indian Cricket Team and an important part of IPL Franchise Mumbai Indians. Ishan showed cricketing prowess at an early age in his hometown of Patna, Bihar.

Ishan made his first-class debut representing his home state Jharkhand in December 2014, at just 16 years old in the Ranji Trophy. He scored a century and five half centuries during that season and continued his streak to the 2015 edition of the trophy where he scored an impressive 87 runs in 69 balls against Saurashtra.

His most memorable performance at the national level came in November 2016 when he scored 273 runs playing against Delhi in the 2016-17 Ranji trophy, making him the highest scorer from Jharkhand in the history of the tournament.

His consistent performances on the domestic circuit led to him being picked as skipper for the U-19 cricket team for their campaign for the U-19 World Cup being held in Dhaka. During the tournament he was unable to rack up a significant tally of runs (73 in six innings) but led the team to the runner-up position.

He was granted further exposure at the international stage in his debut season in the Indian Premier League when he was purchased by Gujarat Lions for 35 Lakh rupees.

His luck seemed to improve in the 2017 season, when he hit 277 runs off 206 balls, with an impressive strike rate of 134.46. He also put in a noteworthy performance against Royal Challengers Bangalore- coming in at seventh and scoring 39 runs of 15 balls.

A pivotal moment of his career was in 2018 was when he was bought by the franchise he currently plays for Mumbai Indians for a sum of 6.25 crore. The left-handed- batter’s ability to score runs in various positions in the batting order garnered him appreciation from varied quarters. He continued with Mumbai Indians, and was a crucial player in their 2020 IPL win with 516 runs at an average of 57.33. In 2022, he became the most expensive buy at the IPL auction at 15.25 crores, once again snatched up by Mumbai Indians, who he has remained with since.

The impressive performances he put in at the franchise level led to his senior international debut in 2021 in India’s T20I squad for their series against England. His first appearance in international cricket was on March 14, 2021, where he scored 56 runs off 32 balls and was named Man of the Match. His ODI debut was on 18th July 2021, in a series against Sri Lanka scoring 59 runs off 42 balls.

Against Bangladesh in 2022, he put in a record- breaking performance becoming the fastest player to score a double hundred in an ODI, being the youngest player to achieve this feat. At the national level, he broke Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly’s records for highest score by an Indian player in ODIs in Bangladesh and the record for highest number of sixes by an Indian in Bangladesh. The 10 sixes and 24 fours he hit in just nine innings have cemented his position as a talented cricketer.

He remained a mainstay in the Indian Cricket Team’s starting XI but saw himself sidelined in 2023 after KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer returned from their respective injuries.

His troubles continued in 2024 when he was dropped from the BCCI’s central contract list after failing to represent his home state of Jharkhand in a Ranji Trophy match. Thus, the IPL 2024 is the most high-profile competition Ishan is a part of in 2024 and he will surely attempt to leverage his performance there into a return to the Indian T20 cricket team.