"I still have his autograph on my bat" - Ishan Kishan on his fanboy moment with MS Dhoni

Like any other budding cricketer playing for Jharkhand, Ishan Kishan was a huge fan of MS Dhoni while growing up. The southpaw, too, dreamed of meeting the legendary Indian skipper one day and taking his autograph.

In a video posted by the BCCI on Instagram, Ishan spoke about the time when his dream of meeting MS Dhoni came true for the first time. He was just 18 years old back then and had asked Dhoni for an autograph on his bat.

Ishan Kishan revealed that he still has that autograph on his bat and has preserved it safely. He said:

"The first autograph that I had asked for was from MS Dhoni. I was 18 years of age and it was a dream come true for me to meet him and I still have his autograph on my bat."

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My cricketing idol growing up was MS Dhoni: Ishan Kishan

Ishan moved to Jharkhand from Bihar with the hope of playing professional cricket consistently. Naturally, he idolized MS Dhoni, who also played his domestic cricket for Jharkhand.

The young southpaw believes that Dhoni has had a huge impact on his life as a cricketer. He harbored a desire to become a match-winner for India just like Dhoni was in his prime and wanted to fill his shoes.

On this, the 24-year-old stated:

"My cricketing Idol growing up was MS Dhoni. Coming from the same place, me also playing for Jharkhand. I always wanted to fill his shoes and now that I am here, I want to win my team many games."

India’s T20I squad against New Zealand: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar.