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Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya shared a heart-melting message for young Indian wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan after the five-time champions let go off his services ahead of the mega auction and then failed to sign him back at the mega auction in November in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Notably, after a bidding war, IPL 2024 finalists, SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) secured his services for IPL 2025.
The youngster, who has been out of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s central contract in 2024, has been a key member of the MI setup. On Sunday, in a video shared by MI across their social media handles, skipper Hardik Pandya opened up on Ishan Kishan’s absence in the upcoming edition.
You’ll always be my pocket-dynamo: Hardik Pandya on Ishan Kishan
Speaking after the franchise could not get Ishan Kishan at the auction table last month, Hardik Pandya said that he will be missed after he brought smiles on a lot of people’s faces in the MI camp. Hailing him as his pockey dynamo, Hardik said, “Ishan has been the freshness and the energy of the room. When we couldn’t retain him, we always knew that it’s going to be very difficult to get him back from the auction simply because we knew that, the kind of play and kind of skillset he brings. He always used to ke keeping the dressing room light, has made a lot of people smile.”
“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 going to miss you and we all love you,” the Indian all-rounder added.
Watch Hardik Pandya speak of Ishan Kishan after IPL 2025 mega auction:
It is to be noted that Ishan Kishan made his IPL debut in 2016 with Gujarat Lions. He then switched to Mumbai Indians in 2018, where he played 89 matches across seven editions, scoring 2325 runs, including 15 fifty-plus scores. The Jharkhand-born cricketer’s best season came in 2020, wher he scored 516 runs from 14 matches at an average of 57.33. In IPL 2024, Ishan Kishan scored 320 runs from 14 matches at an average of 22.86 and strike rate of 148.83.
