India's Alternate T20 XI

#2 Ishan Kishan

The young boy from Jharkhand never made the Indian public or the selectors or any former cricketer speak very highly of him, then why should one consider him for representing a side equivalent to the National side? Because he is immensely talented and has shown tremendous improvement in a very very short period of time.

Initially noticed while opening alongside the lustrous and seemingly prodigious Rishabh Pant, Ishan was seen as an orthodox traditional-era type batsman, who would play grounded and generally not tend to hit aerial and modern-day cricketing shots.

One would not have expected to see him play for any of the IPL franchises in the near future from then, let alone the Indian Senior Team. Nonetheless, he got picked by Gujarat Lions in the 2016 Season of the IPL. Again, nobody expected him to play, given that Gujarat had quality openers such as Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith, but again, he was given opportunities to bat at number 6. He had a forgettable season with just 42 runs in 5 matches, scored at an Average of 8.4 runs and a Strike Rate of 102.4. It was clearly not the then 17-year-old's cup of tea.

Then comes the IPL 2017 and as always, oppositions look to go hard at the 18-year-old Ishan Kishan, who did not surrender this time, scoring 277 runs in 11 matches, averaging 27.7 and striking the ball at 134.46 runs per 100 balls.

The new 'Evolved' Ishan Kishan of present day

Kishan announced himself as a future star when he smashed 39 runs off just 16 balls against RCB and a 61* off 40 balls against Mumbai Indians.

In IPL 2018, Ishan Kishan played as a floater for Mumbai Indians and scored 275 runs with a staggering strike rate of 149.45. He has now proven that he is no less than Rishabh Pant, having scored 62 off 21 balls against KKR this year and also played responsibly throughout the season, doing complete justice to his number 3 spot.