Wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan will make his return to the domestic cricket by representing Jharkhand in the upcoming Buchi Babu tournament in a bid to make a comeback into the national team and earn a central contract. The former U-19 World Cup skipper was banished from the list by the BCCI after refusing to partake in the previous domestic season.
As per earlier announcements, Kishan has declared his availability for the local competition this year. He also shared this news with Jharkhand cricket officials, and thus he was enlisted in the probable candidates’ list before commencing the season.
Buchi Babu tournament comes in at just the right time before involvement at home level event starts. However, chances for him to make it into the national side seem slim considering they already have solidified their wicketkeeper role across formats once again after Rishabh Pant came back while Dhruv Jurel made his way into limelight.
“Yes, Ishan Kishan is going to play for Jharkhand in the Buchi Babu tournament. It is a prestigious tournament where all top red-ball teams come and play. The conditions are challenging and it’s the right way to prepare yourself for the long domestic grind ahead,” a source aware of the development told News 18.
The 2024 Buchi Babu tournament is scheduled to start on August 15 in Chennai.
Ishan Kishan’s most recent participation with Team India was during the South Africa tour in late 2023
Ishan Kishan kept his position for the South Africa tour right after he was put in the 2023 ODI World Cup team and played some games when Shubman Gill was unavailable, too. However, he left the series around halfway through citing “mental exhaustion.”
Afterwards, he didn’t get a chance to join the side again after travelling which made him walk away from the squad at that point when they indicated they wanted him to play domestic cricket first. Since he ignored this plea, he was dropped from central contracts and search began anew for other wicketkeeper-batsmen.
In the end, he arrived in order to participate in IPL 2024 season for MI. He performed reasonably well despite his team finishing last in the points table. The purpose of this is to ensure that they can be selected for national duty.
BCCI has mandated that players not included within the first-team squad, nor on injury/long-term injured list need to partake in domestic tournaments so as to become eligible for selection.
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