Reasons behind Ishan Kishan’s puzzling absence revealed ahead of India’s T20I series vs Afghanistan

The Indian Cricket Board has announced that India’s T20I squad is for the three matches of the T20I series against Afghanistan, which is the last and final preparation for the T20 World Cup 2024, which will start on June 1 in the West Indies and the USA.

However, one perspective of the choice that raised a few eyebrows was indeed the omission of  India’s wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan from the squad. Meanwhile, the 26-year-old cricketer, who cited mental weakness as a reason for remaining absent from the South Africa series, has been avoided in the Afghanistan series.

However, some sources claim that the left-handed batter had some rift with the management team, and that is why he wasn’t named. There is no official news from the Indian Cricket Board.

Ishan Kishan is on a break right now and is vacationing: Report

“Ishan wasn’t happy that he was travelling without much game time. He is on a break right now and is vacationing. In any case, selectors are in all likelihood looking beyond Kishan. It will be interesting if he is picked for the England Test series where KS Bharat will be back behind the stumps,” news agency PTI quoted an Indian Cricket Board source as saying.

Meanwhile, some sources claim that the decision to involve Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli can’t only be taken by selectors, as multiple things need to be considered for such a decision.

“Decisions on Rohit and Virat can’t solely be taken by the selection committee. There is a lot at stake, broadcasters, sponsors and you can’t pick one and drop the other. Ajit and his team needed to maintain a status quo,” a former India selector told PTI on the conditions of anonymity.

India’s Squad for 3 T20Is against Afghanistan: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.