Ishan Kishan, a wicketkeeper-batter, was forced to withdraw from the South Africa tour midway through last year and hasn’t been able to reintegrate into the Indian lineup in any format.
With the likes of Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, and other rising keeper-batters, Ishan’s prospects of making it back into the Indian side appear to be dwindling with each passing series. The 26-year-old was left off of the BCCI central contract list earlier this year.
Recalling that Ishan lost his focus, former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali recently held Ishan accountable for his own demise.
In response to a fan’s question on his YouTube channel, Basit stated that it doesn’t seem likely that Ishan will rejoin the team.
“Ishan Kishan to boht piche chala gaya. (Ishan has fallen way down the pecking order). Wo thoda fashion me lag gaya tha (He got into fashion a bit).
Both Rishanh Pant and Sanju Samson must perform. Pant is being seen by Gautam in T20Is. When Rohit arrives, we will have to watch in ODIs,” Basit stated.
Ishan was a member of the India-based ODI World Cup team the previous year, although he did not play in any of the games.
After that, he unexpectedly quit, citing exhaustion, from the Indian Test team in South Africa. He then disregarded the Indian Cricket Board’s directive and missed India’s domestic cricket matches.
Rishanh Pant and Sanju Samson both need to perform. Pant is a T20I that Gautam is seeing. Rohit’s arrival will have to be shown in ODIs, Basit stated.
Though he didn’t play in any of the matches, Ishan was a member of the Indian squad for the previous year’s ODI World Cup.
The Indian Test team in South Africa was unceremoniously dissolved by him after that, citing exhaustion. Next, he disregarded the Indian Cricket Board’s directive and missed India’s domestic cricket matches.
“I was scoring runs and then I found myself on the bench. These things do happen in a team sport. But 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,” Ishan told Indian Express.
