Where is Ishan Kishan?

The left-handed wicketkeeper-batter struck an unbroken 52 against the West Indies in Port of Spain during his final Test match in July. He hit a run-a-ball 47 against Afghanistan in October during his last One-Day International at the World Cup, taking advantage of Shubman Gill’s unavailability due to dengue. And he blasted a 39-ball 58 and a 32-ball 52 in two of his final three Twenty20 Internationals at home against Australia in late November. Really, Ishan Kishan, where are you?

The answer in plain English is Vadodara, where he has been attending the Kiran More Academy for a few weeks for training.

Ishan Kishan not in the test team WHY?

However, why isn’t the 25-year-old included in the Test plan of action? Why does Kishan remain on the sidelines while India tries valiantly but fails to force significant runs out of KS Bharat? His aggressive batsmanship in the middle order may have disturbed England’s young spinners, so why is there a massive void in the Test setup?

That’s the reason. Midway through the all-format tour of South Africa in December, Kishan asked to be dismissed from the squad for personal reasons, according to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Before the T20 World Cup, the think tank was focused on Jitesh Sharma as an end-overs finisher, and by then, he had lost his T20I position to him. 

In the three 50-over contests, KL Rahul, the appointed captain, was almost guaranteed to wear the big gloves. Aside from the batting group’s lack of experience (Yashashvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer were all on their maiden tours of South Africa), Rahul was also being tipped to be the Test wicketkeeper, if only temporarily.

Ishan Kishan’s Unavailability

Kishan requested a leave of absence, maybe out of curiosity, maybe because he felt cornered, maybe because he wanted a break—all of which are conjectures, agree? Rahul Dravid, the head coach, and captain Rohit Sharma made it clear before the first test of the series against England in Hyderabad that Rahul would not be keeping wickets in India and that his position in that job would only be temporary. They seem to take great satisfaction in maintaining active and open lines of communication, so it stands to reason that they had already discussed it with Kishan. Or did they?

In addition, Kishan will not participate in the last three Test matches against England. The national selection committee announced a 17-man team for the remainder of the series, choosing to stick with Bharat and the uncapped Dhruv Jurel. Dravid had subtly said over a week prior that Kishan’s prospects of making an instant Test comeback are little to none after initially declaring that Kishan must play local cricket before demanding that he play “some cricket” to be eligible for selection. What is the team’s current situation?

Boon in the face of unavailability of Ishan Kishan for Bharat

Up to Kishan’s withdrawal from South Africa eight weeks ago, Bharat’s Test career had encountered an obstacle. Because the Andhra stumper had performed admirably behind the stumps but not very well in front of them in his five previous encounters, Kishan was the first player to break through in the five-day setup. Since his comeback, Bharat has once more performed admirably in goal. He hasn’t looked exactly the part as a batter, but he hasn’t been as good as his opponent Ben Foakes, who has less experience in these circumstances. India can ill afford for their wicketkeeper to underachieve with the bat, given that they only have five specialist hitters, one of whom is not the injured Virat Kohli.

Read Also: India’s Squad for last 3 Test against England Announced

Will India continue to play Bharat in Rajkot (the third Test begins on Thursday) or will they switch to blood Jurel, particularly if Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, who both missed the victory in Visakhapatnam due to injury, play again? Can they have enough faith in Jurel to confront Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav for ninety overs in a single day if the ball misbehaves? Or will his 46.47 batting average and his career-high 249 swing the odds in his favor? Even while it seems likely that the Rajkot pitch will influence who of Bharat or Jurel is chosen, you can’t help but wonder: Where is Ishan Kishan?