Ishan Kishan was not among the retained players by the Mumbai Indians franchise.
Mumbai Indians (MI) made a tough call to shortlist only four of their star players - Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard - for retention. They let go of the likes of Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock, and Trent Boult in the IPL 2022 auction pool.
Kishan, who was part of MI's two title wins, thanked the franchise for the opportunity and a memorable experience. He posted a video on Instagram which was the compilation of pictures from his journey with MI.
"It’s been a journey that’s changed my life, professionally and personally. I’ve made friendships, grown as a player, person and I’m always grateful for the experience," he wrote acknowledging that the journey with the franchise changed his life.
"Thank you to everyone at @mipaltan for all the love, support, and the memories And to the amazing fans, thank you for everything," Kishan added.
Kishan was bought by MI in the 2018 IPL auction. He was the leading run-scorer for Jharkhand in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy, with 405 runs in nine matches.
MI captain Rohit Sharma had earlier said that it was heart-breaking to release their gun players due to retention limits. "As you all know, it was going to be the toughest retention for Mumbai Indians this year. We have had solid players, absolutely gun players in our squad and to release them is absolutely heart-breaking.
"They have done some amazing work for this franchise, created a lot of memories. So, to let them go was really tough," he said in a video.