'I'd pick up chips and ice-cream, used to tell family I had food' - Ishan Kishan recalls struggle from early days

Mumbai Indians wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has been in amazing form in the past year. He started by making his international debut for India in the white-ball formats and went on to become the most expensive buy at the IPL 2022 auction after MI won the bid for a whopping INR 15.25 crore.

But the youngster hasn’t achieved success in a day or two. Like many other cricketers, he has gone through struggles and hardships on his way to becoming an international cricketer. Kishan opened up about that phase of his life, during his training days in Ranchi and remembered how he survived at the time of food shortage.

On Gaurav Kapur’s show ‘Breakfast with Champions, Kishan shared his background story and opened up about how he depended on others for a meal as he lacked the knowledge and skills of cooking. “It was a big problem in those days. There were three players in the living quarters and it had two rooms. And the thing was I didn’t know how to cook. So there was one guy who used to cook. My problem was that I was very lazy. I used to play and just lay on the bed,” he said.

“I joined SAIL and it had a complex area where there was a small grocery store. I would pick up ice cream, chips and cold drinks for the night. I used to tell my family that I ate food as the senior downstairs called me to have dinner. However, it was only later that I told them that I didn’t eat when I was there,” Kishan further added.

People will see you in your free time and judge you according to that: Ishan Kishan

Kishan is known as the fun guy in the group, and Riley Meredith recently called him a prankster who keeps indulging in laugh riots and gags with his teammates. But the player also has an emotional side. He explained how easily people start judging the players without knowing about the hard work they put to gain success in their career.

“People don’t know what zone a player is coming from, how hard he has worked, what all he has gone through, even this has happened that he has had to sleep near the bathroom of a train. But okay, you also can’t blame people. They are also busy in their lives. They will see you in your free time and judge you according to that. It has become very difficult now. People think it is normal to hit fifty off 25 balls,” he concluded on a lighter note.

He also mentioned the entertaining messages he received after he was purchased by MI in the auction. He said that people told him, ‘You have gone for a lot bro, now learn bowling also’. Kishan has started off well in IPL 2022 as he hit two fifties in the two matches played, and will look forward to keep up with the form.