A year after he came close to making a return to the Indian Test fold, when Rishabh Pant was injured during the tour of England, the conversations have resurfaced.
An epic 270, churned out on a placid Chennai track in the Duleep Trophy final, has reignited the debate over whether a return to international red-ball cricket could be closer than ever for Ishan Kishan. But the left-hander has distanced himself from getting caught up in thoughts of "overthinking" and "expectations", admitting that his time away from the national squad during a turbulent phase of his career has narrowed his focus to one thing: getting runs on the board.
Ishan was at the heart of East Zone's monumental 708 in the first innings of the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone. Batting across two days — and taking a brief break on Day 2 after fatigue set in — the East Zone skipper smashed a record 270, the second-highest individual score in a Duleep Trophy final.
Deep Dive
What led to Ishan Kishan's recent success in the Duleep Trophy final?
How does Ishan Kishan's 270 rank among historical Duleep Trophy performances?
Why is the Duleep Trophy's first-innings lead rule under scrutiny?
The outside noise, meanwhile, has been kinder.
With chief selector Ajit Agarkar in the Chepauk stands on Day 1, when Ishan brought up his century, the conversations began to gather pace. After T20Is and ODIs, is Test cricket next?
ALSO READ: Where does Ishan Kishan's 270 rank among the greatest Duleep Trophy performances?
But Ishan made it clear that the knock was less about proving his worth in the red-ball format and more a visible manifestation of the change that has taken place inside him.
{{/usCountry}}But Ishan made it clear that the knock was less about proving his worth in the red-ball format and more a visible manifestation of the change that has taken place inside him.
{{/usCountry}}"I didn't actively try to change myself. It just happened naturally. When I was out of the (India) squad, I realised that we ultimately only have one job to do: simply to score runs. That is the only thing that helps you in your career," Kishan said in the post-day press meet.
"Any other thoughts will only manipulate your mindset, push you into overthinking, and pile on unnecessary pressure. I realised that those extraneous thoughts aren't necessary. Our job is to step in and win matches for the team.
"That's all you should care about. You evolve with time, and I feel it is much easier to play this way when you keep your mind clear," he added.
From all-format star to out of the reckoning
Three years ago, Ishan was an all-format player for India. He made his Test debut during the tour of the West Indies and scored a half-century. However, a trail of unforeseen events later that year culminated in him losing his BCCI central contract and falling out of reckoning for a place in the Indian team.
Ishan did not give up.
He put in the hard yards in domestic cricket, scoring hundreds in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season before helping an unfancied Jharkhand win that season's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 517 runs with two hundreds. That tournament paved the way for his return to T20Is for India.
The BCCI contract and a place in the white-ball setup soon followed. After maintaining his consistency, Ishan was brought back into the ODI fold earlier this summer as well.
But Ishan has left those dark days behind.
"The best thing I'm doing nowadays is not thinking about anything. My job as a batsman is just to go there, watch the ball, and react to it and not keep any expectations from myself.
"At times, you will, obviously, lose patience. But that is the time when you have to talk to yourself; you have to control that, calm your thoughts about whether you are taking the right decision or not, and after that, you execute your plans," he said.
'Going back to zero again'
Ishan said he did not miss the glitz and glamour during his time away from the Indian team. Instead, he embraced the grind of domestic cricket and used the period to take a hard look at himself as a cricketer.
Domestic cricket, he felt, gave him something that the relentless cycle of international cricket sometimes does not: time to stop, reflect and identify the areas of his game that needed work.
"I genuinely enjoyed it because I went back, had to grind and work hard for about two years (when he was out of the team). But sometimes, what happens is, when we play regularly for the Indian team, you just keep playing in a flow.
"You might be a very good player which is why you're playing for India, but your growth stagnates at a certain point. So when you take one step back and go back to domestic cricket, you start from zero again.
"You start thinking, 'I need to get even better,' because today, there are so many players scoring runs. So, to get back into the team, your only option is to perform much better than them.
"Nothing against anyone, but I'm saying you'll only benefit if you do better. So, you have to start again. You get time to reflect on what you missed earlier, why you couldn't convert your starts into big scores. The batting doesn't change that much; it's just the mindset that changes over time," he detailed.