Self-proclaimed 'best spinner' Sai Kishore ready to fight Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja for spot in India's Test XI

The 27-year-old spinner Sai Kishore has set his sights on getting a place in the Indian Test team and he has declared himself fully ready to compete at the highest level, having delivered some great performances in the domestic circuit as well as the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Sai Kishore is undoubtedly one of the best spinners going around in the Indian cricket scene but unfortunately, he is yet to get a permanent place in the Indian team. The six-foot-three Tamil Nadu star has picked up 166 wickets in first-class cricket and 92 wickets in List-A cricket.

He made his T20I debut for India during the Asian Games 2023 and has so far played 3 games while picking up 4 wickets with the best bowling figures of 3/12.

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Sai Kishore had suffered a freak injury while playing golf during the Indian Premier League 2024, which forced him to miss cricket for months. His neck injury turned out to be worse and just he recently made his comeback after two months of rehab. He returned to action in TNPL, starting off as a batter predominantly before getting into his role with the ball.

Sai Kishore will next be seen in action in the Duleep Trophy, which will commence on September 5 in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, and M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru. He will play in Team B - the team that has spinners like Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, and Rahul Chahar.

The selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar is set to keep a close eye on the Duleep Trophy performances as they are expected to reward the players with a likely selection for the Bangladesh Tests if they deliver good performances.

"I feel I am one of the best spinners in the country. Put me in a Test match, I am ready" - Sai Kishore

Sai Kishore is one of the players, who is eyeing a great showing and speaking ahead of the competition, in an interview with The New Indian Express, he said that he is feeling extremely confident at this stage in his career. He said:

"I feel so confident because I have never trained in the block I have now. Maybe before getting into the IPL, I would have trained like this. Waking up at 4 am, training and then, bowling. I haven't put in as many hours as I have this pre-season in the past four-five years. During the IPL, you don't get time, you focus on recovery. After TNPL, I had a 15-20 day break, and used it to the best."

Sai Kishore added that he is one of the best spinners in the country and told the selectors to include him in the Test squad.

"I feel I am one of the best spinners in the country. Put me in a Test match, I am ready. So, I am not worried too much. Jadeja is there, I have never played alongside him. I have been with him in CSK, but never played together in red-ball format. So, it will be a good learning experience in terms of what he does. In saying that, I feel confident. So, I am ready more than ever," he said.

Notably, India already have the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav as spin-bowling options in the Test team and unless a player gets injured, another spinner's inclusion looks unlikely.