India’s debutant wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan made his 23rd birthday even more special, as he launched the first ball he faced on his one-day international debut for a huge six.
Ishan Kishan, along with Suryakumar Yadav made their ODI debuts in the 1st ODI between India and Sri Lanka on July 18, 2021, in Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium. This was also the ODI captaincy debuts for Shikhar Dhawan and Dasun Shanaka respectively, while Ishan became the second Indian and 16th overall to make his ODI debut on his birthday.
Sri Lankan batted first after Shanaka won the toss. They put up 262/9 with Chamika Karunaratne top-scoring with 43*, while Avishka Fernando, Charith Asalanka, and Shanaka making 30 odd runs each.
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For India Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav picked two wickets each while Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya picked one wicket each.
In reply, India came out all guns blazing, with Prithvi Shaw slamming 43 in 24 balls with 9 fours to his name. However, he fell to Dhananjaya de Silva and this brought in Ishan Kishan at the crease at no.3.
Kishan, who had started his T20I career against England earlier this year with a four, stepped out to De Silva and deposited the ball over the long-on fence. He became the first batsman since 2002 to hit the first ball on ODI debut for six.
The others to hit the first ball of ODI career for a six since 2002 were Johann Louw (2008), Jawad Dawood (2010), Craig Wallace (2016), and Richard Ngarava (2017).
In fact, Ishan Kishan hit a half-century off 33 balls, which is the second-fastest half-century on an ODI debut.
Here is the video of Kishan’s first-ball six on ODI debut:
