Ishan Kishan could not have asked for a better way to celebrate his birthday than by making his One-Day International debut for the Indian cricket team and scoring a stunning half-century in a hurry to enjoy the victory.

After a 21-year-old Prithvi Shaw gave a crackling start to the Indian batting order, smashing a ‘Player of the Match’ winning 43 off 24 deliveries, in came Kishan to join his newly appointed skipper Shikhar Dhawan in the middle.

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In a complete mood to enjoy his younger teammates taking an aggressive outlook towards the match from the beginning, Dhawan calmly stood at the non-striker’s end as Kishan got himself three to four metres out of the crease to hit a six on the first ever ODI ball that he was going to face.

Ishan Kishan six on first ball #IshanKishan #INDvSL

pic.twitter.com/P6uazMJi2N

— ABDULLAH NEAZ (@AbdullahNeaz) July 19, 2021

As the ball connected and flew past the ropes, the southpaw knew that he was in for a hell of a debut. Displaying raw power, it was as if every shot that he was racing towards the boundary. There were a few strikes for which none of the Lankan players even cared to move, already knowing that they would be able to stop it.

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Reaching the 50-run mark in just 33 deliveries, Kishan became the second-fastest cricketer to score a half century in ODIs. He also became only the second batsman to score a 50 in his T20I and ODI debuts.

While his batting performance was phenomenal, he said something after the match that is attracting a lot of attention and praise from his fans about the kind of mentality with which he stepped on to that field to bat.

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In a conversation with teammate Yuzvendra Chahal, Kishan revealed that he had already announced in the dressing room that he was going to attempt hitting a six on the very first delivery that he was going to face - and that’s exactly what he did.

“I knew that it was the right time to go for a six on the first ball. I already told you guys that no matter who the bowler was and no matter where he was going to bowl, I was going to send him for a six on the very first delivery,” Kishan told Chahal on his famous ‘Chahal TV’ segment.

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Here’s how the fans reacted:

I dont understand why some people are underrating Kishan. He has been performing in IPL since last 2 seasons, played well against England in T20i and yesterday scored a wonderful 50. Still some ppl dont value him.

— Stavan Pota (@_stavan97_) July 19, 2021

The level of confidence

— 𝚅𝙸𝚂𝙷𝙰𝙻 🇮🇳 (@CricLoverVishal) July 19, 2021

absolutely fantastic this attitude shows the good competition they are getting in domestic and taking no pressure

— Faisal Mughal (@FaisalM60992865) July 19, 2021

Because of this confidence today he is playing for India 🏻

— CRICSTUMPED (@I_am_HS28) July 19, 2021

I wish i had 50% of his confidence and prediction ability lol.

— Andre (@AndreIsOP) July 19, 2021

However, there were also a few critics who labelled Kishan “overconfident” and “overrated slogger”:

Over confidence is injurious for life ..!!

We hope virat tell him this very well

— Yogeshsingh3765 (@YogeshS60079723) July 19, 2021

Be confident but not over overconfident.

— Vijay Patel (@vijaypatel1528) July 19, 2021

Ishan Kishan is a glorified slogger, over praised and over hyped..

— Krishnan (@krakinkrish) July 19, 2021

immaturity to perfection

— YOGESH VASHIST🇮🇳 (@yugofficial) July 19, 2021

Kishan’s six on the first ball and Shaw opening his innings with a boundary are proof of the mindset with which the new generation of Indian cricketers are training themselves to have an impact at the international level.

Sure, such a thought process may not be ideal for Test cricket (something India needs some introspection with at the moment), however, when it comes to limited-overs cricket, it is safe to say that the future is in some very capable hands.

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