IND vs AFG: Ishan Kishan's T20Is Future In Jeopardy As The Selection Committee Includes Jitesh Sharma And Sanju Samson

On Sunday, the BCCI announced a 16-member squad for India’s three-match T20I series against Afghanistan and surprisingly Ishan Kishan was missing in the squad. Ishan Kishan was a part of both the T20I series against Australia and South Africa. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are back in the Indian squad in the shortest format after a year and a half. Rohit Sharma is back as India’s T20I captain and the road to the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 begins.

Ishan Kishan took a break ahead of the two-match Test series against South Africa citing ‘personal reasons’, and the squad announcement has made it clear that the wicketkeeper-batter has not made himself available for selection. However, according to a report from PTI after the squad revelation by the BCCI, the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar is already “looking beyond Ishan” in the shortest format.

BCCI’s statement on Ishan Kishan making himself unavailable for the South Africa Test series cited ‘personal reasons’ as the cause. However, reportedly, he missed the series because of mental fatigue which was due to not getting enough game time after constant traveling with the Indian team. Ishan Kishan has not been getting enough game time since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

Ishan Kishan has been on the road with the Indian team from the start of 2023 but despite being flexible, he has barely managed a consistent run across all formats. Ishan only managed to play three matches in the five-match T20I series against Australia. Moreover, Jitesh Sharma was preferred in all three games against South Africa while Ishan Kishan was again warming the bench.

Ishan Kishan Is Not Happy With The Game Time He Is Getting

As per the reports released by PTI, Ishan Kishan is on a break and is currently vacationing. As far as the selectors are concerned, they have already started to look beyond the wicketkeeper-batter in the shortest format of the game.

“Ishan wasn’t happy that he was traveling without much game time. He is on a break right now and is vacationing. In any case, selectors are in all likelihood looking beyond Kishan. It will be interesting if he is picked for the England Test series where KS Bharat will be back behind the stumps,” a BCCI source told the news agency.

Ishan Kishan can only return to the Indian team if he goes all guns blazing for Mumbai Indians in the upcoming IPL 2024. He is a talented player with all the tricks in the book, he has scored the fastest double-hundred in the history of ODI cricket. Ishan is not completely out of sight in international cricket and will make a strong comeback

As far as the wicketkeeping roles are concerned, Jitesh Sharma is in the run after an impressive show in the series against Australia. At the same time, Sanju Samson has got another opportunity in the shortest format as he is picked as the backup option after having scored his maiden ton last month in the third ODI against South Africa. This is Sanju Samson’s first T20I call-up since traveling with a second-string India squad for the tour of Ireland. He was not selected for the series against Australia and South Africa earlier.