Indian left-handed wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan who got axed from the BCCI’s central contract 2023-24 finally revealed the reason behind his ‘break’ from international cricket.
The rumours between Ishan Kishan and BCCI management started when he opted out of India’s tour of South Africa 2023-24 test series due to personal reasons. Kishan was expected to feature in the following Ranji Trophy series after the short break but the left-hander opted to skip the entire series which led to BCCI removing him from the central contract list.
Indian head coach at that time – Rahul Dravid has suggested Ishan Kishan to play and perform in the domestic matches to make a comeback in the Indian squad which the 25-year-old neglected.
Following his decision to skip the domestic matches, Ishan Kishan received severe criticism from the netizens. After missing multiple Indian outings including the T20 World Cup 2024 and the ongoing Zimbabwe series, Kishan has now revealed the ‘real reason‘ behind his decision to skip the Ranji Trophy games.
“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),” Kishan told the IE.
Kishan also admitted that he was disappointed with him not getting enough playing time for the Indian team, despite performing.
“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.
Ishan Kishan played his last match for India back in November 2023 during the third T20I of a five-match series against Australia. After skipping the South Africa tour and Ranji Trophy, Kishan returned to action for the Indian Premier League 2024.
While the left-hander was expected to make an impressive performance in IPL 2024 following his break, he just returned with a score of just 320 from 14 innings at an average of 22.85 and a strike rate of 148.83.
His performance in the IPL 2024 makes him less considered for the T20 World Cup 2024 as the management picked Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson as the two wicketkeepers for the World Cup tour.
