India's wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan has remained in the spotlight recently after opting to skip the Ranji Trophy in favor of personal practice ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Despite encouragement from head coach Rahul Dravid and other BCCI officials to resume playing, Kishan has stayed away from cricketing commitments, including the final Ranji Trophy Elite Group match against Rajasthan, which he was instructed to play by the BCCI management. Alongside Kishan, pacer Deepak Chahar also chose to disregard his Ranji Trophy obligations. Reports emerged a few weeks ago that Kishan had been training with Hardik and Krunal Pandya at the Reliance Stadium. Despite directives from the BCCI for Kishan to return to domestic cricket and join Jharkhand's Ranji Trophy team, his name was notably absent from Jharkhand's playing XI for the match against Rajasthan.
Earlier, the BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that the board isn't going to 'tolerate the tantrums', asserting that young players who aren't injured have to play red-ball cricket for their state teams."They have been informed on phone already and I'm going to write letters as well that if your chairman of selectors, your coach and your captain are asking for it then you will have to play red-ball cricket," Shah had said."(It applies to) whoever is fit and young - we are not going to tolerate any other tantrums. This message is for all centrally contracted players. Everyone will have to play, otherwise, the chairman of the selection committee has given me his suggestions and I am going to give him a free hand to let him take his own calls freely," he had asserted.
The absence of Kishan saw Kumar Kushagra take over wicket-keeping duties for Jharkhand. Jharkhand, with only one win and 10 points from six matches, faced Rajasthan at home in their final round. Kishan's repeated absences from matches since returning from the national team's South Africa tour citing "travel fatigue" have raised concerns within the Indian cricket establishment. Ishan last featured in the first three games of a five-match T20I series against Australia, scoring 58, 52, and 0 last year. Earlier, Ishan was used as a make-shift opener during the ODI World Cup and played two games at the start until Shubman Gill recovered from Dengue.
