The Mumbai Indians camp knew it would be difficult to get Ishan Kishan back into the fold from the Indian Premier League mega auction due to his skill set, said captain Hardik Pandya here on Sunday. The India wicketkeeper-batter did not feature in MI’s retention list as the five-time champions retained former skipper Rohit Sharma, incumbent leader Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Jasprit Bumrah.

Kishan was snapped up by last season’s finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad for R11.25 crore as Mumbai Indians quit bidding on the player once it reached Rs 3.20 crore. Kishan had a base price of Rs 2 crore. “Ishan has been the freshness and the energy of the room,” Pandya said in a video shared by Mumbai Indians.