Indian wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan is set to lead Jharkhand in the upcoming Buchi Babu Trophy that gets underway on August 15 in Tamil Nadu, a report by Espncricinfo said.
Not on Jharkhand’s initial list, Kishan will now join the Chennai-bound squad on Wednesday.
Just how he progresses from here is now the first contemporary step towards redemption for the 19-year-old into first-class cricket and, possibly, into the Indian Test squad for the Windies series.
Kishan will join the Chennai-bound squad on Wednesday, Espncricinfo reported, following his request to the Jharkhand State Cricket Association to be added to the Buchi Babu Trophy squad. “With Ishan, it was never about ability. It was only about whether he was ready to return. The decision was with him. When he was not included in the initial list, it was only because we hadn’t heard from him. The moment he expressed his keenness to return, he was drafted in,” explained a JSCA official.
Kishan’s career has been a see-saw this year. He, like Shreyas Iyer, was previously left out of the central contracts list announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Kishan did not turn up for a few Ranji Trophy games as well, though he wasn’t in contention for national team duty then.
He was part of the Indian squad for the Test series against South Africa last year but opted out because of ‘personal reasons.’ He played his last T20I for India in November of the previous year and then decided to opt out from playing the subsequent Ranji matches with Jharkhand.
Soon after being lessened to the contract list, Kishan hit back with a pulsating performance in the 18th DY Patil T20 Cup 2024, when playing for Reserve Bank of India versus RBI, contributing behind the stumps as well as with the bat. In that very match, he stumped Sumit Dhekale off Sayan Mondal and scored 19 runs from 12 balls.
Kishan played in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians in 2021, scoring 320 runs in 14 games at an average of 22.86 and a strike rate of 148.84. He has played 32 T20 internationals, scoring 796 runs at an average of 25.7, with a strike rate of 124.4.
He has played 27 ODI matches, scored 933 runs at an average of 42.4 with a strike rate of 102.2, and hit one century and seven half-centuries.
Kishan has played two red-ball games, whereby he has made 78 runs in them at 85.7 with a batting average of 78.0.
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ANI
