India Cricketer Ishan Kishan Seeks Sai Baba's Blessings on 26th Birthday

India cricketer Ishan Kishan rang in his 26th birthday by visiting Shree Samadhi Mandir in Shirdi, Maharashtra on Thursday. Ishan, a wicketkeeper-batter, has represented India in two Tests, 27 ODIs and 32 T20Is since making his debut in 2021.

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Kishan shared a picture of him on social media from the temple, accompanied by a caption: ‘Sharddha and Saburi’.

Ishan’s last international appearance was in the five-match T20I series against Australia in November last year, where he impressed with a half-century.

However, the talented cricketer had to face the BCCI ire for skipping Ranji Trophy matches for Jharkhand, a decision that came after then head coach Rahul Dravid emphasised the importance of playing domestic cricket to secure a spot in the national team.

Following this, he was notably excluded from the BCCI annual contract list alongside another India cricketer Shreyas Iyer.

Ishan was selected for India’s South Africa tour across all three formats in December but opted out of the entire series, citing personal reasons.

After that, he was also left out of India’s squad for the Afghanistan series this January due to his unconfirmed availability.

He represented Mumbai Indians during IPL 2024 and featured in all 14 of their matches scoring 320 runs at a strike-rate of 148.33. He struck one half-century with a high score of 69.

Ishan has scored 1807 runs across formats for India including a double-century and 14 half-centuries. He holds the record for the quickest double-century (by balls taken) in ODI history when he scored 210 off 131 against Bangladesh in December 2022.

Recently, Ishan opened up on his decision to take a break from cricket.

“I was scoring runs and then I found myself on the bench. These things do happen in a team sport. But I experienced travel fatigue. It meant there was something wrong, I was not feeling well or right and so I decided to take a break. However, sadly, barring my family and few close people no one understood that,” he told The Indian Express.