Ishan Kishan was the talk of the 2022 Tata IPL mega auctions, as Mumbai Indians went all out to get him back to the One Family for a whopping ₹15.25 crores. 

The 23-year-old Ishan Kishan packs quite an explosive punch with the bat, so much so that he is nicknamed the ‘Pocket Dynamo’. 

He first rose to prominence on a global scale when he was named captain of the India U19 World Cup squad for the 2016 edition, where he led the team to the final which they ultimately lost to West Indies. 

Ishan Kishan’s first taste of the Tata IPL came with Gujarat Lions in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. MI then brought him into the family in the 2018 auction.
He has since played quite a few blistering knocks for the team. Let’s have a look at a few.

62 vs KKR, 2018

In his very first season at MI, Ishan Kishan would play an innings that would make the viewers gasp.

He walked in at 62/2 at the fall of SKY’s wicket in the 10th over and was dismissed in the 15th over. In the 21 balls that he faced in that period, Ishan caused mayhem.

After being beaten in his first ball, Ishan launched a six over long on off his second. It was just the beginning of the carnage to follow.

Ishan carted four boundaries off Piyush Chawla in the next over and hit Kuldeep Yadav for four consecutive sixes. He brought up a 17-ball fifty, the joint-fastest for MI at the time.

Ishan was eventually dismissed for a 21-ball 62, ending with an astonishing strike-rate of 295.23.

99 vs RCB, 2020

Narrowly missing out on his first T20 century, Ishan helped MI recover from an early wobble in a chase of 201.

Ro, SKY and de Kock had fallen with the score at 39 in 6.4 overs. Ishan, who started off with a boundary, and Hardik Pandya put up a 39-run stand before the latter was dismissed in the 12th over, leaving MI at 78/4.

Ishan, in the company of Polly, then cut loose, dismantling the RCB spinners and pacers alike, hitting a six in almost every over. By the time he fell in the penultimate ball for 99, Ishan had hit two fours and nine maximums.

Pollard himself hit a blistering 24-ball 60 as MI tied the match and forced a super-over, which we eventually went on to lose.

This innings set the tone for the rest of Ishan’s, and MI’s, ultimately successful season.

72 vs DC, 2020 

In a game that MI had to chase a relatively modest target of 111, Ishan Kishan once again provided the fireworks to help boost the net run-rate.

After a slow start, with no boundaries in the first three overs, Ishan signaled his intentions with two fours off Anrich Nortje in the fourth over.

He mostly dealt in boundaries after that, hitting eight fours and three sixes in an unbeaten innings of 72 and fittingly finished it off with a six as MI chased down the target in 14.2 overs. He was deservedly awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ award. 

The numbers, as we will see soon, also highlight how valuable he has been for MI. 

A wicket-keeper batsman who could do the damage in the powerplay or in the middle overs with his pace and spin-hitting abilities, Ishan Kishan has soon developed into a consistent performer for MI. 

The plan, as Akash Ambani had revealed after the auctions, was to always bring back one of the key players for MI in the mega auction and Ishan Kishan’s numbers for MI certainly made it easier. 

In the four seasons thus far that Ishan has been with MI, he has been amongst the top-five run-getters in three seasons, even topping the team charts in our successful 2020 season. In the 2020 edition, MI became only the second team to retain the Tata IPL trophy. 

 Ishan Kishan’s attacking style is a treat to watch and his penchant for boundary-hitting is a trait that makes him invaluable in T20s. 

In just four years so far at MI, Ishan Kishan has hit 87 fours and 61 sixes, with the latter count putting him fifth in the all-time list for MI in the Tata IPL - behind Kieron Pollard, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Ambati Rayudu - all of whom have played at least double the number of games for MI. 

Those boundaries certainly help boost up his strike-rate, which is one of the most crucial aspects to look at in a T20 batter. 

While he has an Tata IPL strike-rate of 138.50 for MI, Ishan Kishan’s strike-rate has never dipped below 133 in a season where he has played more than 10 games for MI (he only played seven matches in 2019). 

 In addition to his batting, Ishan Kishan will also likely don the wicket-keeping gloves for us this season. 

What do you think, Paltan, can the Pocket Dynamo replicate these numbers in the upcoming Tata IPL season?