Ishan Kishan has been given a piece of important advice by former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali, as he is looking to redeem his international career for India. His recent exploits have taken the internet by storm.
The southpaw who made his international debut for India in March 2021 during a T20I match against England in Ahmedabad, last played for India on November 28, 2023, against Australia in Guwahati. He was picked in the Indian team for the Test series against South Africa as well in December, but he pulled out of the assignment due to personal reasons.
Now in a bid for an international comeback, Kishan is playing in the Buchi Babu tournament where he hit two sixes to win the match for Jharkhand against Madhya Pradesh. He scored 114 off 107 balls in the first innings and an unbeaten 41 in the second innings leading Jharkhand to a two-wicket win against MP.
Meanwhile, while speaking on his YouTube channel, Basit Ali predicted that with an international comeback tough for Ishan Kishan, he should focus on the IPL to keep his chances of a comeback alive.
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Basit Ali’s Stern Warning To Ishan Kishan
“Ishan Kishan needs to focus on the IPL now because he doesn’t have a chance of returning to the Indian team till the Australia series. In fact, there’s no chance till the Champions Trophy. Let’s see what happens after that,” said Basit Ali.
Kishan was also excluded from BCCI’s central contract list for the 2024-25 season on the back of him rejecting to play domestic cricket. His return from India’s international assignment from South Africa also played its part in spoiling the matter. Now, the only way for Kishan to make a comeback is to play well and score runs in domestic cricket.
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah in a recent interview with Times of India said that Kishan will need to play domestic cricket in a bid to come back into the national team. His decision to stay away from domestic cricket cost him a central contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The BCCI has announced the Duleep Trophy squads and Ishan Kishan is part of Team D led by Shreyas Iyer. He and KS Bharat are the two keeper-batters in the squad. A good stint in the Duleep Trophy can certainly bolster Kishan’s chances of an international comeback.
So far in his India career, Ishan Kishan has played 2 Tests, 27 ODIs, and 32 T20Is for India since his debut in 2021. Kishan had scored 400-plus in the last two IPL seasons. In IPL 2024, he managed to score 320 runs in 14 matches at an average of 22.86 and a strike rate touching 150.
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