Ishan Kishan goes to war with BCCI!! Pulls out of Duleep Trophy 2024 at the 11th hour

Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan is likely to miss the opening round of the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2024 tournament which is set to begin from September 5 in Anantapur. The reason for Kishan's unavailability is not clear but it is believed that he is injured.

Kishan's unavailability might be a big chance for Sanju Samson. Although it is not official yet, it is believed that Sanju Samson might replace Kishan in the Team D of Duleep Trophy.

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Ishan Kishan set to miss the first round of Duleep Trophy 2024

This is a big blow to Ishan Kishan and his chances of making it to the India's Test squad for the upcoming home season, which comprises of five Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand.

Kishan's availability for the rest of the tournament will be subject to his fitness and his Indian team selection for the two-match Test series against Bangladesh. But given his low chances of making it into India's Test team, Kishan could feature in the latter rounds of Duleep Trophy.

All the four teams of Duleep Trophy will play three matches (once against each other). The second round will begin from September 12. Team D will play its second match against Team A in Anantapur.

Ishan Kishan recent form

Kishan had a middling tournament recently in the Buchi Babu invitational tournament where he was Jharkhand's captaion. He started the tournament splendidly with 114 off just 107 balls in the first innings of Jharkhand's opening round victory over Madhya Pradesh. In the second innings, the left-hander scored an unbeaten 41 off 58 balls to take his side to a nail-biting win.

But the left-hander scored just 1 and 5 across both the innings of the second match of the tournament against Hyderabad. Kishan's poor scores meant Jharkhand could not reach the semifinals of the tournament and they were eliminated.

Ishan Kishan has been out of the national team since last year. His last international match was the T20I against Australia in November 2023. Since then, a lot has gone in his career which has probably resulted in him getting dropped from the team.

Tough year for Ishan Kishan

Kishan withdrew midway through India's tour of South Africa later last year citing mental fatigue. As a result, the selectors started looking at options other than him. Afterwards, he was asked to play domestic cricket in order to make a comeback into the national team.

But the wicketkeeper-batter insisted that he is not ready yet. However, he was found to be training privately with his IPL captain Hardik Pandya during this period which did not go down well with the selectors. As a result, Ishan Kishan was remove from BCCI's annual contracts list.

Meanwhile, this will be a big opportunity for Sanju Samson to stake a claim in India's squad once again. The talented wicketkeeper-batter's exclusion from Duleep Trophy 2024 squad was a big surprise when the teams were announced.