Jharkhand's wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan opened up about his exclusion from the Indian team, losing his BCCI central contract, his future prospects with the national team and his feelings after Team India's victory at the T20 World Cup 2024.
The 25-year-old was an integral member of the Indian team and was also the primary wicketkeeper, in the absence of the likes of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul. He opened the batting for Team India alongside captain Rohit Sharma at the T20 World Cup in 2021, in the UAE.
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Moreover, he found a place in the Indian Test team after an impressive tour of the West Indies. In the ODI format, he made history by scoring a double hundred against Bangladesh, in 2022. The left-hander was known for his attacking style of batting.
However, since mid 2023, when he was excluded from the ODI World Cup 2023 squad, he has gradually been dropped from different formats. This has been a setback for the player's career, who was in a prime position to be a key part of the next generation of Indian cricketers.
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What did Ishan Kishan say about his future career as Indian player?
The Indian wicketkeeper last played for Team India in the T20I series against Australia, in November 2023. He then dropped out the 2-match Test series tour of South Africa late December 2023, citing mental fatigue reasons.
He was then excluded from the subsequent T20I series against Afghanistan in January 2024 on disciplinary grounds after he was seen partying in Dubai and further for making appearances in TV shows.
"I was scoring runs and then I found myself on the bench. These things do happen in a team sport. However, I experienced travel fatigue. It meant there was something wrong, I was not feeling well or right and so I decided to take a break. However, sadly, barring my family and few close people no one understood that," he said.
Ishan returned was part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season, but he lost his Central Contract for not reporting for domestic-cricket duties after BCCI made it mandatory for top cricketers to be part of state cricket when not in action for the national side.
"I took a break and I think it was normal. There is a rule that if you want to make a comeback you must perform in domestic cricket. It is as simple as that. Now, it was very different for me to play domestic cricket as it was not making any sense. I was not in a frame of mind to play and that is why I took a break from international cricket. It doesn't make sense that you take a break from international cricket and then you go and play domestic matches. Fir toh aap international hi khelte (Then I could have continued playing for India)," Ishan said
For this reason, he opted to not play in the Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand and since then, the 25-year-old has not been able to it back to the Indian team, which also meant that he missed out on the chance to be a part of the T20 World Cup 2024 champion team.
"It was depressing. Today I don't want to say that everything was fine. It was not easy for me at all. You go through a lot. Mere dimag mey ye sab chalta raha ki yaar kya hoga gaya, kyu ho gaya, mere saath kyu (Questions like what happened, why me). All these things happened when I was performing," he added.
The break has proved to be costly for Ishan Kishan as several players got opportunities to play in his place, both at the top of the order and as wicketkeepers. It is going to be a challenge for the youngster to mount a comeback to the team and compete against the the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson.
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