SL vs IND: Ishan Kishan smashes fifty on debut on his birthday, joins Sachin Tendulkar in elite list

Team India wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan started his debut innings in ODI cricket with a bang smashing a six off Dhananjaya de Silva on his first ball. He followed it up with a four on the backward point and he was up and running in the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Ishan didn't want to stop or curb his natural instincts as he just kept smashing. Whether it was pacer or a spin bowler, Ishan Kishan just wanted to smack them out of the park. An on-drive, some boundaries straight down the ground, six on long-on, Ishan was in demolition mood.

Surviving two dropped chances, Ishan never calmed down and brought up his maiden half-century on debut in ODIs, on his birthday and became the first batsman to do so. However, he wasn't the first one to score a fifty on his birthday in ODIs as he joined an elite list of Indian batsmen that includes the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Yusuf Pathan, Vinod Kambli and Navjot Sidhu.

Indians scoring a fifty on their birthday (in men's ODIs):

Vinod Kambli (21st)
Navjot Sidhu (31st)
Sachin Tendulkar (25th)
Yusuf Pathan (26th)
Ishan Kishan (23rd)

Kishan is the only one to do so on his ODI debut.#SLvIND #SLvsIND #INDvsSL

— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) July 18, 2021

Ishan, who smashed a fifty on his debut in T20Is in March earlier this year against England, repeated the same on his ODI debut, becoming only the second batsman in the world after South Africa's Rassie van der Dussen.

Men with 50+ scores on ODI AND T20I debut:

 Rassie van der Dussen
Ishan Kishan pic.twitter.com/3GQZDp3ovS

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 18, 2021

Ishan hit eight fours and two sixes in his 42-ball knock of 59 runs as he brought India closer to victory after Prithvi Shaw's explosion at the start.