It is not easy being Ishan Kishan. After being part of the World Cup squad last year and playing all three formats for India, the opening wicketkeeper-batter finds himself nowhere near the national side currently and doesn't look like making a comeback anytime soon, especially if he doesn't make himself available for domestic cricket for Jharkhand. Ishan, who was named in the squads for the South Africa tour last year, withdrew his name citing mental fatigue.
Ishan had reckoned that contact travel while being benched for series after series for a number of months took a toll on him and hence didn't make himself available for some time. However, when Ishan had started practicing ahead of the 2024 edition of the IPL alongside Hardik Pandya and chose to skip Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand, the selectors and the fans got the impression that he was doing well but not playing domestic cricket. Hence, he was omitted from the central contract list and for the first time since the fiasco, Ishan has spoken about the same.
“I was scoring runs and then I found myself on the bench. These things do happen in a team sport. However, 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,” Ishan was quoted as saying by the Indian Express in an interview.
“[The past few months] were 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 mein ye sab chalta raha ki yaar kya hoga gaya, kyu ho gaya, mere saath kyu (Questions like what happened, why it happened with me only?). All these things happened when I was performing,” he added.
However, Ishan is determined to perform and return to Indian colours across all three formats. Ishan will be hoping for a tremendous domestic season for Jharkhand for first be eligible for a contract and hopefully return to the side.
