“We knew that it’s gonna be very difficult to get him back” - MI skipper Hardik Pandya opens up about losing star Indian player for IPL 2025
Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya has opened up about the departure of Ishan Kishan, acknowledging that the team knew they wouldn’t be able to bring him back once he wasn’t retained ahead of the mega auction.
The wicketkeeper-batter, who was not part of the five players retained, was eventually bought by SunRisers Hyderabad in the 2025 mega auction for ₹11.25 crore.
On Sunday, December 1, the Mumbai Indians' official X account posted a video in which captain Hardik Pandya shared a heartfelt message for the 26-year-old Ishan Kishan. He expressed that Ishan always brought smiles to people's faces and that the team would miss him. He 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."
"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 youand we all love you.”
Meanwhile, the 2025 edition of the IPL is set to begin on March 14.
Ishan Kishan has scored over 2,000 runs for Mumbai Indians (MI)
After making his IPL debut with Gujarat Lions in 2016, Ishan Kishan joined Mumbai Indians in 2018 and quickly became a key player for the team. Over seven seasons, he featured in 89 matches for MI, scoring 2,325 runs, including 15 fifties.
His most impressive season came in 2020, when he scored 516 runs in 14 matches at an average of 57.33, including four half-centuries. Ishan was also part of the winning MI squads in the 2019 and 2020 seasons.