Ishan Kishan was excluded from the BCCI central contract in February 2024 after failing to participate in domestic cricket as directed by the board.
India have announced their 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy 2025, which has Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul as wicketkeepers.
Consequently, Sanju Samson also missed out on a place in the side. Less talked about is the expected absence of Ishan Kishan, who was in the World Cup 2023 team. What really happened to Kishan, one of India’s ODI double centurions?
Ishan Kishan was in the team during the Bangladesh ODI series in 2022 when he made an astonishing 210 off only 131 balls, thus becoming the fastest double-centurion in history. After Rishabh Pant’s horrific accident, Kishan featured in every series India played in 2023 and was also included in the 2023 World Cup squad.
Although primarily a backup wicketkeeper to KL Rahul, Kishan got his chance in the first two World Cup matches when Shubman Gill was sidelined with dengue.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t make an impact, scored 47 runs in 2 innings. Still, Kishan had a decent 2023 overall as he scored 456 runs in 15 matches, with four half-centuries.
Ishan Kishan was excluded from the BCCI central contract in February 2024 after failing to participate in domestic cricket as directed by the board. After the ODI World Cup, Kishan took a very long break and did not even play for his domestic team, Jharkhand, despite numerous requests from BCCI to prove his fitness through domestic performances.
The BCCI argues that playing domestic cricket is the best way for a cricketer to remain in form and to show dedication to the game. Kishan had gone against the advice of then-head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma, who had insisted on playing domestic cricket during national breaks.
Ishan Kishan did not play any international matches for India in 2024. He had a bad IPL season where he scored only 320 runs in 14 matches for Mumbai Indians, which led to the franchise releasing him ahead of the next season.
Kishan was not under consideration for the T20 World Cup squad, as Rishabh Pant had returned from injury as the first choice and Sanju Samson was kept in support. Had Kishan played well in the IPL, he could have been there, otherwise, his poor performances were not good enough for him to argue his case.
Ishan Kishan played domestic white-ball tournaments in 2024, though it was a pretty disappointing season. In Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he scored only 161 runs in 6 matches with only one half-century.
In Vijay Hazare Trophy, Kishan began well with a century in his second match but ended the tournament with 316 runs in 7 matches.
Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan have been left out of the central contract list, but recent performances have kept them apart. Iyer has been a regular in One-Day Internationals since 2023. In the World Cup, he scored 530 runs in 11 innings and also played in the ODI series for 2024 against Sri Lanka.
In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Iyer aggregated 325 runs in five games, in which he scored two hundreds. Iyer has also been doing well in domestic cricket and has won Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup, and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Mumbai while leading the Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL 2024 title as captain. Not having a central contract hasn’t stopped him from getting into India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad.
Ishan Kishan couldn’t quite make a case for himself. He could not produce consistent performances in domestic cricket to warrant a return to the side, thus falling behind others in the pecking order. Currently, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul are well ahead of him as is Samson, who was also ignored.
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