Ishan Kishan was born on 18 July 1998 in Patna, Bihar.His father, Pranav Kumar Pandey is a builder by profession in Patna. Due to registration issues between Bihar Cricket Association and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Ishan started playing for neighbouring state Jharkhand. A wicketkeeper and left-handed opening batsman from Jharkhand, the same state MS Dhoni hails from, Ishan Kishan led India at the Under-19 World Cup in 2016 in Bangladesh, where his team finished runners-up to West Indies. In 2016, Kishan was bought by Gujarat Lions in the 2016 IPL auction. In 2018, he was bought by the Mumbai Indians in the 2018 auction. He was the highest run-scorer for Mumbai in the 2020 season, with 516 runs from 14 matches and won the award for hitting the most sixes during the season. Ahead of the 2022 IPL, Kishan was bought again by Mumbai for ₹15.25 crore (equivalent to ₹16 crore or US$2.0 million in 2023), making him the second-most expensive Indian player at the auction after Yuvraj Singh.