Ishan Kishan
To be selected for India is a surreal feeling for young wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan, who received his maiden call-up for the upcoming T20I series against England, scheduled to start from March 12 at the newly-constructed Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Ishan's selection came hours after his blistering 94-ball 173 against Madhya Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare. Along with Ishan, his Mumbai Indians teammate Suryakumar Yadav and Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Rahul Tewatia also earned maiden India call-ups.
22-year-old Ishan took it to Twitter to express his delight. He also thanked everyone for their messages. The explosive left-hander had a brilliant season with Mumbai Indians (MI) in the UAE last year, where he scored 516 runs from 14 matches and finished as the top run-getter for the Mumbai outfit.
"The last few days I feel overwhelmed with all your love. Your support means so much to me. Thank you for all the kind messages you have sent me. It feels very special. Playing for India has always been a big dream for me and to be selected for #TeamIndia is a surreal feeling," Ishan wrote in a tweet.
He added, "I will aim to continue to work hard and improve. #Grateful."
Ishan will replace Sanju Samson as the back-up wicketkeeper of the side as Rishabh Pant returned to the limited-overs set-up after delivering impressive performances in Australia.
India's T20I squad for England series: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Y Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, W Sundar, R Tewatia, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep, Shardul Thakur.
