File photo of Ishan Kishan© BCCI/Sportzpics

After months of criticism and trolling, India vice-captain Hardik Pandya finally found his night of reckoning and glory as he helped India win the T20 World Cup last week in Barbados. Prior to the tournament, Hardik was brutally targetted by fans owing to his poor form in IPL 2024, and also over the fact that he replaced Rohit Sharma as captain of the Mumbai Indians (MI). Under Hardik’s leadership, MI finished the season bottom of the points table.

Some fans were also not happy with Hardik’s inclsuion in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup. However, Hardik was one of India’s match-winners in the final and was influencial for them throughout the tournament.

His performance in the final saw a huge change in behaviour of fans towards him. In fact, a young girl even apologised to him on live television.

Now, out-of-favour India wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan has recalled what Hardik told him when fans were going after him.

“I had a gut feeling that he (Hardik) was saving it all for the World Cup. I will never forget his words: ‘Ek baar performance aa jaaye fir jo aaj gaali de rahe wahi taaliyaan bajayenge (Once I start performing, those who are abusing me will be clapping for me). This is what he told me when I was also going through a really tough time. He said ‘let people talk, we will do our best and give 100 percent to the game we love’,” Kishan told the Indian Express.

Kishan, who lost his central contract and was seen training with Hardik before the IPL, also revealed how the India vice-captain never complained about the fan’s treatment of him.

“It is difficult to explain in words the past six months he has had, as there were all kinds of things said and written about him. But he never lost his cool. I was with him during most of that time – be it training with him in Vadodara or during the IPL – and I never heard him cribbing ki yaar, aisa kyun ho raha hai mere saath (Mate, why is this happening with me). He was calm about it, took it in a very sporting manner, and just focused on the game,” he explained.

“I remember Hardik bhai saying once during the IPL, ‘Jo haath mai nahi hai uske baare mey kya sochna. Log bol rahe hain, kyu bol rahe, wo sab control nahi kar sakte (Those things which are not in our hands, we can’t control. If I keep on thinking about what people are saying, I will lose it). The same bunch that has criticised me will celebrate me in the future and I just have to take it in a very sporting manner,” Kishan added.

India wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan has opened up on him taking a break from international cricket, which led to his ouster from the team. Kishan last played for India during the third T20I of a five-match series against Australia in November last year. He was then named in the subsequent tour of South Africa, but opted out of the Test series due to personal reasons. After taking a short break, Kishan also decided to skip Ranji Trophy matches, which led to the BCCI removing him from the central contracts list.

Rahul Dravid, who was the head coach of India at that time, has suggested that if Kishan wanted to make a comeback, he must feature and perform in domestic matches.

While his decision to skip domestic matches led to severe criticism, Kishan has now revealed that he was not in the right frame of mind to play 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 Indian Express.

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.

After skipping the South Africa tour and Ranji Trophy, Kishan returned to action during the Indian Premier League earlier this year.

However, he scored just 320 runs from 14 innings at an average of 22.85 and a strike rate of 148.83.

As a result, he was not considered for T20 World Cup selection, with the management picking Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson as the two wicketkeepers.

One of the finest wicket-keeper batters in the Indian team, Ishan Kishan has had a tumultuous time over the past 6 months, which saw him losing his place in the Indian team across all three formats, as well as a place in the BCCI central contract. Ishan sought a break from India’s tour of South Africa in December last year over mental fatigue, and has since not returned to the fold. Though he played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 with the Mumbai Indians, he wasn’t picked for the recent Zimbabwe tour.

In a chat with the Indian Express, Ishan opened up his absence from the Indian team, central contract snub and the plan he has put in place to make his way into the national team.

When asked about the axe from the Indian team and the central contract snub, Ishan said: “I don’t want to be sad about anything. I’ll keep giving my best.”

The wicket-keeper batter admitted that the last few months were depressing, and what happened also mde him wonder why all this was to happen with him.

“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 said.

Ishan was asked about the reason behind his break, and he revealed that it was mainly travel fatigue but he didn’t feel all was well inside his head. He also said that, sadly, no one else barring his family and a few close friends understood his stance.

“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.

“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),” he asserted.

Ishan Kishan paid a surprise visit to Hardik Pandya at him home.© X (Twitter)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were forced to make three changes in the Indian squad for the T20I series against Zimbabwe as some of the members were stuck in Barbados. The likes of Yashasvi, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, who were all part of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, couldn’t fly out sooner from the island nation as a hurricane threat forced the government to shut down all flights. The selectors named Harshit Rana, Jitesh Singh and Sai Sudharsan as replacements for the first two matches.

While Harshit and Sudharsan were rewarded on the basis of an exemplary Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 campaign, Jitesh has been in the mix for a couple of years now. However, their inclusion also posed a big question on certain other Team India stars who were ignored. Among those topping the list, were the likes of Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Varun Chakravarthy, Mayank Yadav, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal etc.

Ishan Kishan’s case remains arguably the most curious one. He was an all-format player for the Indian team until the tour of South Africa where he asked the BCCI for a break. A lot happened in between that series and the T20 World Cup 2024 squad selection that prompted the selectors to keep the Mumbai Indians wicket-keeper batter on the sidelines.

Ishan was reportedly asked to play Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand and a few other domestic events if he is to be considered for selection but he decided to train with Hardik Pandya for the IPL 2024 campaign.

The move from the Mumbai Indians star didn’t seem to have gone well with the BCCI bosses and the selectors who didn’t pick him for the Zimbabwe series, despite Sanju Samson’s unavailability for the first two matches. The pecking order, at present suggests that Ishan isn’t even the 4th choice option in the shortest format. Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, and Jitesh Sharma seem to be ahead of him in the race.

Ishan’s case isn’t an isolated one, similar questions can be asked about players like 7 other players including KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, two Indian veterans, who weren’t picked for the Zimbabwe tour either.

In the bowling unit, the absence of Varun Chakravarthy, Mayank Yadav, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal etc also poses some big questions while many feel that an all-rounder like Venkatesh Iyer could also have been considered.

India’s squad for T20Is vs Zimbabwe: Shubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.

Changes for first two T20Is: Harhit Rana, Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma

Aakash Chopra feels Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan might not play for MI next season.© BCCI