“The Choice Is His” – Rahul Dravid On Ishan Kishan’s Return To Cricket

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid expressed that Ishan Kishan will himself decide on his return to cricket, and the management “isn’t forcing anything”. The wicket-keeper batter recently opted for a break from cricket and hasn’t played any cricket since the T20I series against Australia last year in November.

Ishan Kishan was with the Indian squad for the T20I series in South Africa. Following the series, he opted for a break and hence wasn’t for the test series against South Africa and later against the West Indies. When asked about Ishan Kishan in the press conference following the Visakhapatnam Test win, Rahul Dravid said,

“There’s a way back for anyone and everyone. It’s not that we rule out anybody from anything. I just don’t want to go on labouring about the Ishan Kishan point. He had requested a break, we were happy to give him the break and whenever he was ready, I didn’t say he had to play domestic cricket. I said whenever he is ready, he needs to play some cricket and come back.”

Ishan Kishan decides when he wants to be ready: Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid further expressed that Ishan Kishan will take a call on his return and nobody else is forcing him to do it. He added that they are in touch with the Jharkhand cricketer. Dravid shared that Ishan needs to resume playing cricket before being considered for selection again in the Indian team.

“And the choice is his. We are not forcing him to do anything. We are in touch with him, but he hasn’t yet started playing, right? At the moment, it’s not something that we would consider. Maybe he’s not ready. He decides when he wants to be ready and we’ve got options obviously with Rishabh (Pant) injured and stuff. So I’m sure the selectors will weigh all the options,” said the Indian head coach.